Advancing Equity in Adoption Through Innovative Provider Payments and Data-Driven Policy Changes

During this presentation, Social Current Strategic Industry Partner Public Consulting Group (PCG) will provide an overview of its work on two initiatives in Michigan to tackle systemic inequities in adoption.

One initiative is to develop an innovative provider reimbursement model that incentivizes timely adoptions based on rates that are customized to average time in care for eight populations, including BIPOC children. This model empowers Michigan to tackle inequities by better aligning provider compensation with expected case workload and duration.

The second initiative is an in-depth equity assessment of policies and practices to identify areas for improvement within the current system using a nationally recognized equity audit framework.

PCG will discuss factors instrumental this work’s success, which include effective collaboration, merging stakeholder feedback with quantitative analysis, a willingness to pilot novel rates, and the boldness to recommend concrete action to address systemic inequities. Participants will be able to apply the principles of this rate model to their states’ timeline-based incentives, learn about index scoring, and be introduced to a framework approach for evaluating equity.

Takeaways

• Whether their current provider payment systems advance equality and/or equity and/or perpetuate any unintended consequences that may reinforce systemic bias
• How payment strategies can be used to intentionally allocate additional resources to groups that need it most to promote equity
• How index scores can be used to identify trends and priorities in human services data
• How to utilize qualitative data from affected populations to help explain and/or confirm quantitative trends
• How affected populations can and should be central to decisions that affect their lives
• Short-term and long-term approaches to building systemic equity, such as pairing a financial solution with an assessment of policies and practices
• One approach for evaluating for equity within a policy or practice

Who Should Participate

• Executives
• Directors
• Supervisors
• Child welfare agency directors, commissioners