Evaluating Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG)

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) wanted to use one solution to solve two problems: low wages for adults and a shortage of skilled healthcare workers. The solution: Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) to train low-income adults for in-demand healthcare jobs with the potential for good wages and career advancement. Abt is evaluating two rounds of grants.

Abt is exploring whether program participants complete training and secure higher-paying healthcare jobs and barriers to, and factors in, their success.

Abt’s completed work involved:

• Design, implementation, and maintenance of a data management information system to facilitate grantee case management, performance tracking, and a national evaluation
• Grantee performance monitoring and annual program reporting
• Research and evaluation design

Abt’s current work involves:

• Descriptive studies to examine program implementation, participant outcomes, influences of local service delivery systems on HPOG program design and implementation, and HPOG implementation influences on local systems
• Impact studies to assess effects of HPOG on participant outcomes compared with a control group
• Cost-benefit study to evaluate costs and benefits of a standard HPOG program in the second round of grants

Below we include published reports from Abt’s evaluations of the two rounds of HPOG.

Findings from HPOG 2.0

Under HPOG 2.0, Abt is evaluating 27 grantees operating 38 programs that operated between 2015 and 2021. The evaluation includes an Impact Evaluation, a Descriptive Evaluation (including implementation, outcomes, and systems studies), and a Cost-Benefit Analysis.

What are the annual program results?

Annual reports describe results for participants in the second round of the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) Program.

• Health Profession Opportunity Grants 2.0: Final Annual Report
• Key Findings from the Final Annual Report of the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) Program, 2015-2021
• Health Profession Opportunity Grants 2.0: Year Five Annual Report (2019–20)
• Health Profession Opportunity Grants 2.0: Year Four Annual Report (2018–19)
• Health Profession Opportunity Grants 2.0: Year Three Annual Report (2017-18)
• Health Profession Opportunity Grants 2.0: Year Two Annual Report (2016–17)
• Health Profession Opportunity Grants 2.0: Year One Annual Report (2015–16)

What are the impacts of HPOG 2.0 for program participants?

A large experimental evaluation of HPOG 2.0 found, in the aggregate, significant short-term impacts (15 months after randomization) on educational progress for the low-income adults served by 38 local programs across the country. 

• Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG 2.0) Short-Term Impact Report
• How a National Healthcare Training Program’s Impacts Vary Locally
• Analysis Plan: Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG 2.0) COVID-Cohort Impact Report
• Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG 2.0) National Evaluation: Outcomes Study Report
• Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG 2.0) Intermediate-Term Impact Report

How did grantees implement HPOG 2.0?

HPOG 2.0 grantees worked with local partners in their communities to design and implement programs to provide education, training, and support services to eligible participants to help them train for and find jobs in a variety of healthcare professions. The local programs incorporated key features of the career pathways framework. Participant receipt of services varies considerably across program offerings.

• Understanding Local Systems that Supported HPOG Programs: Perspectives from Program Operators and Partners
• Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG 2.0) National Evaluation Implementation Study Report

What was the evaluation design?

Impact evaluation

• National and Tribal Evaluation of the 2nd Generation of Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG 2.0): Impact Evaluation Design Plan
• National and Tribal Evaluation of the 2nd Generation of Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG 2.0): Analysis Plan for the HPOG 2.0 National Evaluation Short-Term Impact Report

Descriptive evaluation

• Descriptive Evaluation Design Report for the National and Tribal Evaluation of the 2nd Generation of Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG 2.0): Descriptive Evaluation Analysis Plan for the National Evaluation
• Participant Perspectives on HPOG 2.0: Design Report for In-Depth Interviews with HPOG 2.0 Program Participants

Cost-benefit study

• National Evaluation of the Second Generation of Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG 2.0) Design Plan for Cost-Benefit Analysis
• Analysis Plan for Cost-Benefit Analysis: National Evaluation of the Second Generation of Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG 2.0)

Findings from HPOG 1.0

Under HPOG 1.0, Abt evaluated 23 grantees operating 42 programs between 2010 and 2015. The evaluation includes an Impact Evaluation and an Implementation, Systems, and Outcomes Evaluation.

What are the impacts of HPOG 1.0 for program participants?

A rigorous experimental evaluation of 23 of the 32 grantees in the first round of HPOG found that HPOG increased occupational training participation 15 months after randomization; increased training completion, healthcare employment, and career progress three years after study members enrolled; and increased employment in a healthcare occupation six years after study members enrolled.

• Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG 1.0) Impact Study: Six-Year Impacts Report
• Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG 1.0) Impact Study: Three-Year Impacts Report
• Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG 1.0) Impact Study Interim Report: Program Implementation and Short-Term Impacts
• Improving Economic Opportunity through Healthcare Training: Short-Term Impact Results from the First Round of the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG 1.0) (summary brief)

How did grantees implement HPOG 1.0?

HPOG was successful in training high numbers of individuals in healthcare occupations. In just over five years of operation, HPOG 1.0 grantees served more than 36,000 individuals (well above the target of 31,000 participants) and engaged most of them in healthcare occupational training.

• Final Report: National Implementation Evaluation of the First Round Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG 1.0)
• Improving Economic Opportunity through Healthcare Training: Highlights from the National Implementation Evaluation of the First Round of the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG 1.0) (summary brief)
• Descriptive Implementation and Outcome Study Report: National Implementation Evaluation of the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) to Serve TANF Recipients and Other Low-Income Individuals
• Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG): Summary of Interim Outcomes (summary brief)
• Systems Change under the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) Program: National Implementation Evaluation of HPOG to Serve TANF Recipients and Other Low-Income Individuals
• Systems Change under the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) Program - Appendices

What was the evaluation design?

• Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) Impact Study Design Report
• Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) Impact Study: Technical Supplement to the Evaluation Design Report: Impact Analysis Plan
• Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) Impact Study’s Three-Year Follow-Up Analysis Plan
• Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) Impact Study’s Six-Year Follow-up Analysis Plan
• Design Report: National Implementation Evaluation of the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) to Serve TANF Recipients and Other Low-Income Individuals

Examining Special Topics

Abt conducted research and analyses on relevant topics beyond the scope of the main study analyses and reports for both rounds of HPOG.

Experiences of HPOG participants

• Finding a High-Quality Job in the Caring Industry: HPOG Participants’ Occupational Choices
• One Step at a Time: Participant Perspectives on Career Pathways
• The HPOG Training Opportunity: Participant Perspectives on Finding Motivation While Working and Taking Care of Family

Examining patterns in participant outcomes

• How Do the Impacts of Healthcare Training Vary with Credential Length? Evidence from the Health Profession Opportunity Grants Program
• Impacts of 10 PACE and HPOG 1.0 Occupational Training Programs
• Occupational Training for Jobs That “Pay Well”: Patterns from the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) Program
• Summary and Insights from the Ten PACE and HPOG 1.0 Job Training Evaluations
• Which Program Characteristics Are Linked to Program Impacts? Lessons from the HPOG 1.0 Evaluation
• Career Prospects for Certified Nursing Assistants: Insights for Training Programs and Policymakers from the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) Program
• Measuring Career Progress in the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) 1.0 Program
• Training TANF Recipients for Careers in Healthcare: The Experience of the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) Program

Navigating COVID-19

• Agile During a Pandemic: How HPOG 2.0 Programs Responded to COVID-19
• Healthcare Workforce During COVID -19: Results from an Environmental Scan

Grantee strategies for program delivery

• How Can Postsecondary Education and Training Programs Help Working Students Persist? Findings from Career Pathways Studies
• Targeting Higher Skills and Healthcare Jobs: How HPOG Grantees Set and Use Performance Goals
• The Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) 1.0 Case Management and Counseling Services
• The Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) 1.0: Eligibility Criteria and Application Procedures

What was the evaluation design?

Impact evaluation

• National and Tribal Evaluation of the 2nd Generation of Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG 2.0): Impact Evaluation Design Plan
• National and Tribal Evaluation of the 2nd Generation of Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG 2.0): Analysis Plan for the HPOG 2.0 National Evaluation Short-Term Impact Report

Descriptive evaluation

•  Descriptive Evaluation Design Report for the National and Tribal Evaluation of the 2nd Generation of Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG 2.0): Descriptive Evaluation Analysis Plan for the National Evaluation
• Participant Perspectives on HPOG 2.0: Design Report for In-Depth Interviews with HPOG 2.0 Program Participants

Cost-benefit study

• National Evaluation of the Second Generation of Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG 2.0) Design Plan for Cost-Benefit Analysis
• Analysis Plan for Cost-Benefit Analysis: National Evaluation of the Second Generation of Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG 2.0)