Research to Practice

HFNY programs are primarily funded by the New York State Office of Children and Family Services; some programs receive additional funding from the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program, which is administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA). MIECHV-funded programs are required to conduct annual reporting on 19 system outcomes and performance measures (i.e., benchmarks) in six benchmark areas (listed below). Members of the HFNY Central Administration (CA) track program performance on these benchmarks quarterly and annually, provide HFNY MIECHV programs with quarterly reports, and provide HRSA with annual reports. Programs can use the quarterly reports to support their continuous quality improvement (CQI) efforts.

HFNY CA members and HFNY programs also meet quarterly for technical assistance (TA) surrounding the MIECHV benchmarks. Such TA meetings allow programs and CA to review analyses about benchmark data, discuss strategies for and barriers to success, and create a space for peer-to-peer sharing and learning. Given the breadth of information that is shared during these quarterly meetings, members of the CA team have created infographics summarizing the MIECHV benchmarks and additional analyses discussed. Although HRSA has not yet set performance targets for the benchmarks, CA's goal is that the quarterly reports and meetings, as well as the infographics, help programs to improve their performance and think more deeply about what affects program performance on the measures, and thus improve their practices and impacts on families.