Leveraging WIC EBT Data for In-Depth Program Analysis

Since its founding 50 years ago, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, 婴儿, 儿童一直是许多低收入者迫切需要的食物和保健支助来源, nutritionally at-risk pregnant women, 新妈妈, 婴儿, 和 young children. In addition to providing healthy food, WIC, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food 和 Nutrition Service (USDA FNS), also offers nutrition education, breastfeeding promotion 和 support, 和 health care referrals through state agencies awarded federal grants.

Like many public service programs, 然而, WIC policies 和 practices have undergone significant changes. Between 2003 和 2010, food packages were revised, more grains were added to diets, vendor practices were altered, 和 electronic benefit transfer (EBT) began to replace paper checks. 这些变化, 加上美国农业部监察长办公室的审计，促使FNS审视WIC的食品成本控制措施，以了解其有效性. The WIC Food Cost Containment Study, completed by Insight Policy Research (acquired by 趣赢平台 in 2022), provides these data. 两位专家现在在韦斯特的社会政策和经济研究实践——斯泰西·格里森, MPH, an Associate Vice President, 和 Kathy Wroblewska, MPP, a Senior Associate—conducted the research. Here they discuss their findings, other WIC studies, 和 趣赢平台’s expertise in WIC policy 和 WIC vendor management practices.

Q. What was the goal of the WIC Food Cost Containment Study?

A. Kathy Wroblewska: 我们的任务是确定在不影响项目和参与者成果的情况下降低食品成本的最佳做法. 这包括检查6种类型的国家机构食品成本控制措施, 29 food-specific restrictions, 和 the resulting impact on WIC participant satisfaction, benefit redemption, 和 food 消费 at 12 state agencies.

Q. What research methods did you use?

A. Kathy Wroblewska: We used a mixed-method design, which included the following activities:

• Collecting information from WIC food lists, 国家计划, 和 policy documents on cost-containment practices used in 70 states
• 采访70个州的WIC主任，以验证抽象数据并了解实施某些措施的理由
• 调查了12个州的WIC参与者和3个州的WIC参与者，以获得对WIC食品满意度的反馈, 购买, 消费, 首选项, 和 access to 供应商
• 分析WIC EBT数据，查看12个州参与者的食物选择和成本

Q. What recommendations did you make based on your findings?

A. 斯泰西·格里森: 我们建议FNS分享有关降低WIC食品成本的最有效和最广泛使用的成本控制措施的信息, minimize negative effects on participants, 和 are not overly burdensome to administer. 我们还建议FNS提醒州政府机构注意那些不省钱或与减少赎回有关的做法, food 消费, 和 participant satisfaction.

A. Kathy Wroblewska: 我们还发现，超过70%的家庭受访者表示，购物体验相对轻松, 但同样大比例的人表示，他们有时会选错商品，或者发现WIC的食品缺货. 这一发现有助于为WIC提供额外资金，以改善参与者的购物体验.

Q. What challenges did this study present?

A. 斯泰西·格里森: It was the largest collection of WIC EBT data ever. 我们必须管理和处理12个州数以百万计的EBT记录. This process taught us a lot about state-specific nuances in the data, 包括改进我们将来请求和处理这些数据的方式的机会.

Q. What other WIC studies have you 和 your team conducted for FNS?

A. 斯泰西·格里森: We have about a dozen active WIC projects with USDA, 和 we’ve conducted many others over the past 20 years. We work with FNS on large administration data collections. 例如, every 2 years since 2012, 我们收集了所有WIC州机构的行政数据，以创建一个关于WIC参与者完整普查的全国性描述性数据文件. The final report from the 2022 census was just published on FNS’s website. We are working with FNS on the 2024 census now. 在这次人口普查中，国家统计局大大扩大了数据收集的范围. We will collect longitudinal administrative data, including EBT data, for a full 2 years rather than for a single month.

我们还通过应用创新方法来研究关键的政策相关问题来支持FNS. 例如, for the WIC Eligibility Estimates Research 系列, we recently provided FNS with 2021 estimates of WIC eligibility by region, state 和 territory, race 和 ethnicity, 和, for the first time since this study 系列 began, 城市化与. Several years ago, 我们分析了WIC食品发行和EBT数据，以帮助FNS发现高风险违规供应商的潜在指标.

我们还为FNS进行了许多研究，包括从具有全国代表性的样本中收集数据和对项目管理人员进行普查. 例如, 我们目前正在对WIC参与者的经历和健康结果进行全国性的纵向研究. 正如FNS所指出的，这项研究至关重要，因为它将有助于“讲述WIC的故事”.“我们还在盘点州和地方的母乳喂养政策和做法，重点是确定在提供世界母乳喂养大会母乳喂养支持方面的不公平现象. For this study, 我们从WIC州和地方机构的人口普查中收集数据，并从州计划和政策手册中提取数据.

Q. What expertise does the 趣赢平台 team bring to these 和 future WIC studies?

A. 斯泰西·格里森: 我们拥有强大的政策知识和多年分析WIC参与者购买模式的经验, 和 interviewing 和 surveying WIC staff, 供应商, 和 participants. 我们还坚定不移地致力于让参与者和员工以我们的工作为中心——他们是真正的专家, 毕竟，还要确定将数据反馈给WIC社区的最佳方式.