Welcome to DSHS Research & Data Analysis Division

RDA's Latest News

2007 DSHS Employee Survey
13,715 employees completed the 2007 employee survey. They addressed communication, supervisor/manager support, fairness and diversity, job satisfaction, and business practices. The big news from the 2007 survey is a general upward trend in most areas. Marked increases from 2006 scores were reported in the areas of general satisfaction, supervisor recognition and support, and communication.

Activity Report, Washington State Institutional Review Board, July 2006-December 2007
This report provides and overview of the Washington State Institutional Review Board, formerly known as the DSHS/DOH Human Research Review Board. It summarizes the Board's authority and functions, outlines the human research review process, and describes major activities during July 2006-December 2007. It also includes a log of all research projects, which were reviewed during this period.

Employment Status of Medical Assistance Clients and Persons with Dependents with DSHS Medical Coverage

An increasing number of employers are faced with rising employee health care premium costs. Consequently, many have chosen to drop health care benefits or to pass a greater share of the coverage cost on to their employees. More employees and their dependents now go without health insurance, apply for state purchased health care programs supported with public funds, or seek uncompensated care at hospitals and community clinics. In this study, we report on the employment status of Medical Assistance clients and persons with dependents with DSHS medical coverage.

2007 Client Survey: DSHS Clients Speak

Between January and June 2007, DSHS surveyed 1,222 clients who had received services during state fiscal year 2006. These clients were asked about their satisfaction with DSHS services and recommendations for change. The great majority of clients expressed satisfaction with DSHS services and with their interactions with staff. Clients who complained often reported experiencing difficult access, service cuts, problems with staff, no available providers, or unmet needs.

Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Treatment Expansion
This report provides preliminary findings on the progress of the DASA Treatment Expansion in achieving treatment goals and budgeted cost savings in the 2005-07 Biennium, as required by Chapter 522 Laws of 2007 (SHB 1128).

Arrests Among Working-Age Disabled Clients
This report examines arrest outcomes among clients who receive medical coverage through the state's Medicaid Disabled or General Assistance Unemployable (GA-U) programs. These clients are known as "working age disabled" because they are non-elderly adults who have been formally assessed to qualify for DSHS medical coverage due to a short- or long-term disability. We find that arrests are concentrated among clients with indications of alcohol or other drug (AOD) problems. We also review research that indicates AOD treatment significantly reduces the risk of arrest among working-age disabled clients.

Vocational Rehabilitation Rates Since 2000. Aftermath: To what degree is field office performance stable after the 2000 decline?
This report, testing the stability of office performance since changes in the year 2000, follows up on a previous study by the same authors. Rehabilitation rates for clients beginning to receive DVR services in fiscal year 2004 are compared with those in 2002-03. Consistent better-than-expected performance among nine offices suggests that there may be some systematic practices that generated these outcomes.

CSO Profiles: Maternal Characteristics and Birth Outcomes for Community Services Offices, 1991 to 2004.
This is the first in the series of CSO Profiles to report maternal characteristics and birth outcomes for 56 CSOs in Washington State. This report provides information at the CSO level on prenatal care initiation, average age at first birth, maternal smoking, education, marital status, low birth weight, preterm  birth, and infant mortality for both non-Medicaid and Medicaid covered births. In 2003-04, the proportion of births covered by Medicaid ranged from 17.6% in King East to 79.8% in Wapato, compared to 45.6% statewide.

TAKE CHARGE, Final Evaluation.
First Five Years: July 2001 – June 2006
This report describes program objectives, fertility rates, client characteristics, service utilization, and client self-efficacy for the first five years of Washington’s TAKE CHARGE program, from July 2001 to June 2006. TAKE CHARGE provides family planning services prior to pregnancy for low-income women and men not otherwise Medicaid eligible. Findings include more than 335,000 clients were enrolled and an estimated 22% of the women eligible under the waiver, who would have had an unintended pregnancy, remained pregnancy free.

Why the decline? A Study of Two Cohorts
Rehabilitation rates for the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) prior to 2000 were relatively high – above 60 percent on average. They declined after 2000 to around 40 percent, and all but four of the 44 field offices statewide experienced declines.

• A struggling economy, an increase in the proportion of DVR clients with more severe disabilities and clients on disability-related economic assistance explain most of the decline.
  

• Some offices did much better than expected even after 2000. Expectations were based on local labor markets, mix of clients, prior job experiences, grants received, and types and length of DVR services.

The study suggests that DVR might learn from the effective practices of the most successful offices and possibly increase overall rehabilitation rates statewide.

Other information on the need and impact of human services RDA's Publications: Are you looking for research in the field of Social and Health Services in Washington State? We may have the research publication for you!   Find Research Publication by browsing RDA's electronic library

For more ways to get in touch with the Department of Social and Health Services, go to the DSHS Contact Information Web page. Technical Site Comments: DSHS Webmaster. Copyright 2004 Washington State Department of Social and Health Services.