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ExpectMore.govExpectMore.gov home pageEXPECT FEDERAL PROGRAMS TO PERFORM WELL, AND BETTER EVERY YEAR.
 
Program Assessment

Program

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Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities

The purpose of the program is to improve the health of children and adults by preventing birth defects, developmental disabilities and complications of blood disorders; and promoting optimal child development and the health and well-being of people of all ages living with disabilities.

Rating

What This Rating Means

PERFORMING
Moderately Effective

In general, a program rated Moderately Effective has set ambitious goals and is well-managed. Moderately Effective programs likely need to improve their efficiency or address other problems in the programs' design or management in order to achieve better results.
  • The program addresses specific public health problems in the areas of birth defects, developmental disabilities, and health for people living with these and other disabilities, including blood disorders
  • The program has challenging but realistic quantifiable targets and timeframes for the long-term outcome measures. Measures include a lifespan increase of patients with Muscular Dystrophy by 10 percent, and increases in the rates of infants screened for hearing loss by one month of age
  • As the program has created a new set of long-term performance goals this year, there is not sufficient data to indicate that there goals are currently being achieved. However, the program has shown progress towards the goal of preventing birth defects by reducing the rate of spina bifida and anencephaly rates in Hispanics since 2000 and by identifying previously unknown causes of birth defects.

Improvement Plan

About Improvement Plans

We are taking the following actions to improve the performance of the program:

  • Tying budget requests to the accomplishment of annual and long-term goals, and present resource needs in a complete and transparent manner.
  • Demonstratating adequate progress in achieving the program's long-term performance goals.
  • Continuing program improvements so that future independent evaluations indicate that the program is effective and achieving results.

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