WASHINGTON. I. Introduction to the State

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1 I. Introduction to the State WASHINGTON A. Highlights Washington s Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) is an umbrella agency that encompasses many of the human services administered separately in other states. One in five Washington state residents uses at least one DSHS service each year. These services include welfare, medical assistance, long-term care, child and adult protective services, developmentally disabled services, vocational rehabilitation, juvenile rehabilitation, and mental health and substance abuse treatment services. Human services administered outside DSHS include: Employment Security, workforce training, labor and industries, housing assistance, public health, adult corrections, and public education. The DSHS has a central division of Research and Data Analysis (RDA) that is instrumental in transforming administrative data from a variety of welfare and social service systems into more research-friendly formats (usually SAS, sometimes ACCESS). At present, RDA receives monthly or quarterly extracts from each DSHS program and has gradually developed these extracts to build relational databases for research. To date, these databases have been used to meet federal reporting requirements, to provide statistical summaries for annual reports, to research specific legislative policy and management questions, and to produce various ad hoc reports for a variety of customers ranging from the governor s office to citizen requests. B. Demographics and Caseload Description Washington is a rapidly growing state, with a 1996 population of 5,610,000. It ranks fifteenth in size in the United States. Children make up 26% of the population, while the elderly compose 11.6%, ranking the state twenty-sixth and thirty-seventh, respectively, in these two categories. The state ranks eighteenth in median household income ($38,568) and lower than average (twentieth) on measures of poverty, with 7.1% of the 1994 population receiving either AFDC or SSI. In 1996, there were approximately 206,000 Food Stamp households, and 476,000 Food Stamp recipients in the state. C. Interview Sources Information for this report was gleaned primarily from telephone interviews with administrators in Washington s human service programs during the summer of The DSHS/RDA provided information on their linked databases. Administrators and technical support staff from the Employment Security Department and the following DSHS programs were interviewed: Economic Services Administration, Children s Administration, Medical Assistance Administration, Support Enforcement (child support), and Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse. Consultec, a private firm that contracts with Washington to administer its Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS), contributed to the information on that system. Information on Washington s Work First evaluation was provided by the Institute for Public Policy at Evergreen State College.

2 II. Data Systems for Social Programs AFDC/TANF Food Stamps Medicaid Eligibility JOBS/JOBS successor Medicaid Claims Child Protective Services Foster Care Unemployment Insurance Earnings Records Child Support Child Care Subsidies ACES (Automated Client Eligibility system) ACES (Automated Client Eligibility system) ACES (Automated Client Eligibility system) JAS (JOBS Administrative System) MMIS (Medicaid Management Information System) CAMIS (Case And Management Information System) CAMIS (Case And Management Information System Wage and Employer Unemployment Insurance File SEMS (Support Enforcement Monitoring System)) SSPS (Social Service Payment System) B. Description of Data Systems Automated Client Eligibility System (ACES) ACES is Washington s statewide welfare data system that consolidates AFDC/TANF, Food Stamps, and Medicaid eligibility functions. It is used to determine client eligibility, issue benefits, and provide management support for the state s Economic Services Administration. ACES is an integrated, online system that uses an extensive PC/LAN network connected to an IBM mainframe computer located in the state capital, Olympia. The system was developed from an existing operational application that was transferred to and adapted by Washington. All caseload data in the prior legacy welfare system (ITIS) were converted to ACES between 1995 and June The primary identifier in the system is the client ID number, which ACES creates for every recipient. The ACES client ID is also used by the JOBS automated system (JAS), the Medicaid system (MMIS), and the child welfare system (CAMIS). Although Social Security numbers are also collected on all recipients, these are not as unique as the ACES client ID because clients may have more than one Social Security number on record. Demographic information including race/ethnicity, primary language, educational level, marital status, living arrangements, and relationship to head of household are all entered into the system based on information received from the client at application and periodic redeterminations. ACES receives data in a batch mode from a number of state and federal agencies that update and validate information contained in the system. When changes or discrepancies are found as a result of these interfaces, worker alerts are generated by the system. Income information is verified through interfaces with the Income Eligibility and Verification System (IEVS), Employment Security, Social Security, and Veteran s Affairs (VA) benefit files. Non-income related information is also important for determining the amount of benefits; therefore, ACES also

3 receives data in a batch mode from the child welfare database, CAMIS, regarding children removed from the AFDC/TANF household. There is also a daily and monthly interface process with Washington s Medicaid claims system, MMIS. This interface updates client eligibility status, third-party liability, long-term care status, and third party liability (TPL) carrier file updates. There are two-way exchanges of data between ACES and the Office of Support Enforcement, which allows for updates in cases affecting child support (such as the $50 pass-through and children aging out). ACES provides for the capability to access other state and federal files in an online environment. These include: the Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs, State Data Exchange, Labor and Industries, JOBS Automated System, Washington Telephone Assistance Program, Medicare Buy-In, IRS, BENDEX, and Disqualified Recipient System. When any ACES data are deleted online, a deletion recording is entered, indicating that a change has been made. Retrieving the earlier data involves requesting a search of the monthly extract files sent to RDA. Monthly extracts are the only archiving of data that occurs. As the ACES system is still fairly new, no procedures are yet in place for regularly archiving inactive files. ACES system architecture makes it difficult to meet certain federally mandated accounting and reporting requirements. To accommodate these needs, as well as to have ad hoc reporting capabilities, the Economic Services Administration (ESA) created a DB2 relational database known as CARD. A software program called ETI is used to extract variables from ACES. The Washington Department of Social and Health Services, Research and Data Analysis Division (RDA) queries CARD in SAS to meet many of the federal welfare reporting requirements. Other users also may access CARD for research purposes. Although a longitudinal database has not been constructed from the ACES extracts, it would certainly be possible to do so. JOBS Administrative System (JAS) Washington s TANF program, called WorkFirst, combines employment activities with income maintenance functions. Under WorkFirst, all adult clients, except those granted exemptions, are entered into the JOBS Administrative System (JAS) system. The JAS system was originally set up in for the JOBS program, yet as late as 1996 only a small percentage of the AFDC caseload was enrolled in JOBS, and many participants were involved in remedial education, high school completion or equivalency programs, or higher education. The shift to enrolling all WorkFirst clients in employment activities has greatly increased the JAS caseload. In addition, clients can remain in the system even when they are no longer eligible for cash assistance in order that they may receive postemployment services. These changes in the composition of the caseload, combined with change in the program s focus on immediate job placement, have compounded the demands on this system. The JAS system is now shared by the staff of two different agencies: the Employment Security Department (ESD, i.e., unemployment insurance) and the Economic Services Administration (ESA, i.e., welfare). ESD develops the contracts with the providers of education and training services, and ESA uses information in JAS to make payments to the providers and to manage WORKFirst client cases. As JAS was pressed into expanded service under welfare reform, ESA staff needed to use the information in this system much more in order to track client progress through the various work-related activities (job search, work experience, and short-term training

4 and education) that had been created under JOBS. JAS uses a mainframe system with an ADABAS database written in the programming language Natural. The primary identifier in JAS is the ACES client ID number, although Social Security numbers are also collected. All identification and demographic data in JAS are identical to that found in ACES given that this information is transferred through an automated link to ACES. Each adult in JAS is considered as a separate case. Additional variables included in the JAS system are the start and stop dates of various work components and training activities, vendor payments, and client wages, as reported by the client. The system has the ability to automatically generate contracts and vouchers to vendors so that clients who are referred for services can begin receiving these quickly. JAS links directly to the ACES system. There is a monthly interface between JAS and AFRS, the statewide accounting system overseen by the state s Office of Financial Management. Certain information from JAS is extracted monthly and sent to the DSHS Research and Data Analysis Division, while other information is extracted and used for internal agency reports only. There are numerous data-sharing agreements between the agencies within Washington s umbrella Department of Social and Health Services agency. Interestingly, however, although JAS is administered by the same agency that also collects statewide employee wage data, there are currently no direct links between these two systems. To date, no information in JAS has been systematically archived. Physical deletions from case records are estimated to be about 10% of the data, although even this information is retrieved with some difficulty. For example, when data in active use fields are deleted or overwritten, the field shows that a change has been made, and by going back to historic fields, older data can be recovered. For auditing purposes, accounting information must be maintained for seven years, although in practice all accounting records ever entered into the system are kept. The most commonly used screens, however, only display the past two vendor payments. Due to the age and limits of the JAS system, it is expected to be completely replaced within the next few years. It is unclear as of this writing how the new system will pick up from JAS. Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS) Medicaid eligibility in Washington is established through the ACES system. More than half of all those using Medicaid in Washington, however, are not receiving any sort of cash assistance program. Once a case has been determined as Medicaid eligible, an electronic referral is generated by means of tape interface with the MMIS system. MMIS is used to process and pay claims for eligible patients under the guidelines and rates set forth by the federal government and Washington s DSHS Medical Assistance Administration (MAA). The MAA s Division of Program Support reviews claims submitted by providers online, on tape, by floppy disk, or as hard copy, and determines whether claims are justified. The primary identifiers in MMIS are the patient identification code (PIC) and the individual claim number (ICN). The PIC code is composed of the first five letters of the person s last name, followed by their first and middle initials, a numerical date of birth, and finally a letter (A, B, C...)

5 which is the tie-breaker to eliminate any duplicate PICs. Although the MMIS system receives ACES ID numbers, Social Security numbers, and other identifiers via the tape interface with ACES, the MMIS system currently does not have the capacity for using this information either to process claims or to look up clients. Technical administration of the MMIS system is contracted out to a private firm, Consultec, which maintains offices in Olympia and Atlanta, Georgia, where the MMIS mainframe is located. The mainframe system is tethered to Washington by a T-1 telecommunications link. This system has been in use in Washington since Data remain accessible to users of the MMIS system for three years and are then archived by Consultec in Atlanta. It is difficult, although not impossible, to retrieve archived data by means of a special service request. Claims data submitted to MAA for input into the MMIS system may be changed by claims examiners who work at dumb computer terminals. Once information has been transmitted to the mainframe in Atlanta, however, it normally requires a service request to change older data, although certain changes may be submitted online. Medicaid eligibility and third-party insurance coverage information is updated in MMIS with daily tapes transmitted by ACES. Some of the state s largest employers and insurers, for example, Boeing and Champus, send periodic data tapes to update the third-party coverage information in the system. MMIS is not linked electronically to any other management information systems. Limited data from the MMIS system are extracted monthly by MMA and compiled in an extended database by DSHS s Research and Data Analysis Division. Case and Management Information System (CAMIS) CAMIS is the system used to track all child abuse and neglect reports, as well as children in foster care, relative care, and group care. It also contains contracts and information on licensed providers of foster care, as well as relative and group care. CAMIS is used to authorize child care payments to the providers of children receiving services from the Division of Children and Family Services. This system has been in use since Prior to the implementation of CAMIS, there were only paper case files. The system is an online system with about 5,000 users. The primary identifier in CAMIS is the case ID number. Computer files are built around the case. The system also uses person ID numbers and collects Social Security numbers for children if available. Using the system s person look-up function, users can enter a name, referral date, or Social Security number to get a listing of all the cases containing one or more of these variables. Most often, however, the case number is used to access information regarding children and their families. Accurate and complete Social Security numbers are not a priority for children, although for licensed providers and contractors, correct Social Security numbers are mandatory. The system contains the names of all alleged perpetrators, the names of all children for whom a report has been made, children in foster care, children and families in family reconciliation services, all foster care vendors, and the amount of payments made to them. It also collects information on all persons involved in a case, which, depending on the nature of the report, varies greatly. In the case of a child abuse report, for example, staff enter the name of the child, the

6 perpetrator, and everyone in the child s household, as well as the location and date of the incident. The investigating social worker collects more detailed information about the incident, as well as whatever identifying information (such as date of birth, SSN, addresses, race/ethnicity, and gender) is considered pertinent to resolving the case. Given the nature of these investigations, correct SSNs are generally not a priority, but names are. Information can only be changed or corrected during the first five days after a report is made. Any corrections after five days require an amended report. CAMIS interfaces with the Medicaid system (MMIS) and with ACES so that eligibility for these other programs can be established or re-established. For example, when a child in an AFDC/TANF case goes into foster care, he or she would be taken off the AFDC/TANF case and his or her Medicaid eligibility claim number would change. If the child were not previously on Medicaid, he or she would automatically be assigned a Medicaid eligibility number on entering the foster care system. When children leave foster care, these processes may be reversed. CAMIS also interfaces with ACES to gain access to any reported wages, which could affect vendor payments. CAMIS interfaces with the Social Service Payment System (SSPS) to pay for child care authorized in CAMIS. It also interfaces with SEMS, the child support system, for subrogation of parents of children in care. There is a nightly backup of all CAMIS system files. To date, CAMIS has not yet purged or archived any files. Every report that has come into the system since it began in 1990 remains available online. A new state law recently enacted, however, will require that the Children and Family Services Division delete all unfounded abuse and neglect reports that are older than four years, unless another report has been filed on the same person during that time. Support Enforcement Monitoring System (SEMS) SEMS is the online automated data system used by Washington s Division of Child Support to monitor collection of court-ordered child support orders. There are about 355,000 active cases in this system, and about 726,000 closed cases. As the state s Title IV-D central registry, DCS receives all cases with child support orders from the courts, as well as all cases for children for whom paternity has been established by a welfare applicant s signed affidavit. Of the currently active cases in the SEMS system, about 73,000 are receiving TANF, and 81,000 are former AFDC/TANF recipients. Data in SEMS extends back to approximately The primary identifier in the SEMS system is a unique individual number (case number) established by the system for the responsible parent. All children for whom child support payments are required are included under the parent s individual number. The system collects a variety of variables on the parent that may be used for identification purposes including SSN, date of birth, race/ethnicity, primary language, and gender. For the children in each case, the system collects, when applicable, any public assistance numbers associated with the children (i.e., ACES client ID number, CAMIS case number). This information is collected through paper referrals from Economic Services Administration and the Division of Children and Family services. Under law, child care payments must be made directly to the Division of Child Support so that they can maintain a record of all child support payments. Variables in the SEMS include the date

7 when any payments are made, for whom the payments were made, the dates of all court orders, hearing dates, amendments orders, and attorney contact information. The system also collects considerable employer information, including address and telephone numbers, wages paid, and medical insurance coverage information. Employment information is collected through automated links with the Division of Employment Security and recently from the federal government s newhire database. In addition to links to obtain employment information, SEMS links with the ACES and CAMIS systems to update whether children are receiving public assistance or are in foster care. To accomplish this ESA and DCFS provide ESD with monthly downloads of all active cases in the ACES and CAMIS system. DCS links these to SEMS in order to update coesd, indicating whether a case is either IV-A or IV-D (assisted/nonassisted). Certain information in SEMS is overwritten and not saved in any format, (for example, when there are changes of address or when children s welfare status changes). To retrieve such information, it would be necessary to research the monthly extracts that DCS sends to RDA. Selected variables on SEMS are extracted monthly and moved to a file server at RDA. Wage and Employer Unemployment Insurance File Washington uses an unnamed ADABAS database to track wages paid by Washington state employers. As required by law, all employers must report all regular wages to the Employment Security Department (ESD) quarterly. Each employer is assigned a unique employer account number by ESD, and all wages reported by employers must be assigned to a specific Social Security number. Apart from the SSN, ESD employer number and calendar quarter (YYQ), there are few variables in the system on individual wage earners. There are, for example, no geographic indicators. Each calendar quarter is kept as a separate file in the system. Any change to a wage record is recorded in the system, up to a maximum of 12 changes per quarter. It is extremely rare to have a record changed this many times. ESD currently keeps 14 quarters of information in its online system. The two most current quarters are incomplete, as they are still being supplemented. Files more than 14 quarters old are archived, and the data are not readily available. ESD has archived quarterly wage files back to the fourth quarter of Experience has shown, however, that tapes and cartridges deteriorate and there is a steady decline in the reliability of information after five or six years. Wage records data are shared with various programs within Washington s Department of Social and Health Services and other state agencies. There are strict confidentiality and procedural rules for how such information is used and under what conditions it may be requested, however. Social Service Payment System (SSPS) The subsidized child care payment system in Washington is called the Social Service Payment System (SSPS). Information in the SSPS is collected on all children for whom the state makes child care payments as well as the parents and providers of care. Data are entered into SSPS by caseworkers from a variety of programs that offer subsidized child care services. These include

8 all of the welfare programs, foster care, and children in the developmental disabilities system. It includes information on the types of child care provided, the amount of time for which care is authorized, the amount of time the child spends in care, and the amount paid for this care. SSPS is neither networked, online, nor currently linked or interfaced with any other database. The DSHS s Research and Data Analysis Division is in the process of creating a research child care database from monthly extracts of SSPS files. The child care database essentially puts the COBOL written SSPS data into a more research-friendly SAS format, which can then be used for program management and monitoring purposes, and for linking to other SAS-compatible research databases. The child care database is being built in segments, with data from SSPS extending back to 1995 almost complete. The plan is to eventually include five years of SSPS data in the child care database. Future plans are to merge the child care data with ACES and ESD wage files for analysis of welfare to work, and the impact on child care use. Variables included in the child care database that may be used as identifiers are: name, date of birth, and SSN. Other variables included are demographics of children, the type of child care used, the addresses of providers, the amount of all checks written, and the program under which payments are made. Inquiries of the system may be made based on either the parent s or the children s information, and will accommodate inexact matches. For example, if three of five identification variables match, (first name, last name, date of birth, SSN, gender), this is considered a match. Before data from SSPS are entered into the child care database, RDA goes through unduplication procedures to eliminate multiple entries of the same event in the SSPS data. This is the only purging of data that occurs. There is currently no need to archive the child care database as it is still under development. Currently only RDA staff have access to the child care database, although within the next six months they hope to develop procedures for determining who or under what circumstances they will allow access to this database outside of RDA but within DSHS. There are formal procedures at the state level for researchers outside government to request access to this confidential information. III. Linked Databases All of the linked database projects listed here, with the exception of the Work First evaluation, are undertakings of Washington s Department of Social and Health Service s Research and Data Analysis Division. Access to all data is limited to RDA staff and those who have received written permission after filing formal requests for information to the director of DSHS. A. Needs Assessment Database/ Client Services Database In 1990, RDA embarked on a project called the Needs Assessment Database (NADB). The project was originally designed to answer questions about how effectively and equitably DSHS

9 was serving clients of various age, gender, and ethnic group. During 1990 and 1991, the project merged extracts covering the previous state fiscal year. These extracts were collected from 17 different administrative data systems and merged into a single SAS database (called the FY90 Needs Assessment Database or NADB), which recorded services, costs, and clients from each of the ten different DSHS programs. From NADB, reports were created that allowed DSHS to determine how many of its clients were shared among the ten programs, and to determine how the total DSHS costs for those clients were distributed across programs. The unduplication of clients and the standardization of service reporting across programs was complicated by the fact that some data systems tracked clients for a single program while others covered payments and authorizations for multiple programs. Locating clients across multiple programs and systems was further complicated because client identification was not standardized across programs. Particular services might be authorized in one system, paid in another, and managed in yet a third. Once agency management had one year of reports from a merged, unduplicated client information system, however, even though it was a retrospective in nature, they found it difficult to revert to a separate systems approach. The NADB was thereafter reproduced for fiscal years 1991, 1992, and From these databases, publicly available statistical summary reports were produced for each year, for various geographical levels, including the entire state, each county, each city with a population over 3,000, and for each legislative district. The reports show how many clients, by age and gender, are using each of 76 different services, how those clients are unduplicated by program and by agency, and how much was spent on those clients. The NADB was also used to produce internal summary reports with matrix tables showing how shared clients and their costs are distributed across DSHS programs and services. In 1996, DSHS management decided to forgo building the FY 96 NADB and instead to invest staff time and effort into the development of a monthly unduplicated database called the Client Services Database (CSDB). This database is now designed and beginning to process monthly data feeds from the same 17 administrative data systems. CSDB is different from NADB in that it will use monthly rather than annual data extracts, maintain monthly service costs, record more detailed geography, and provide more current and flexible reporting capabilities. B. First Steps Database In 1989, the First Steps program expanded Medicaid eligibility for low-income pregnant women in Washington State. RDA established the First Steps database in 1990 to research the effectiveness of this program at improving birth outcomes and access to prenatal care. To build the First Steps Database (FSDB), RDA links bi-annual extracts from three data systems: Vital Statistics, MMIS, and the Office of Financial Management. FSDB contains detailed demographic and medical data. The data are used primarily for statistical summaries and in an annual report describing and analyzing infant births, deaths, prenatal care, and other health indicators among Medicaid clients in a given year. There have also been numerous white papers written analyzing data from the FSDB.

10 C. TARGET-Base Wage Database The TARGET system, maintained by DSHS Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse (DASA) is used to track service use, costs, and social/demographic information on all clients using publicly funded drug and alcohol treatment services in Washington from enrollment through discharge from treatment. The system is not used for making payments to providers. Information comes into the TARGET system from monthly downloads from numerous inpatient and outpatient service providers, detox treatment enters, Methadone clinics, and so forth. Over 400 variables are collected on patients, including SSN and client ID number, at patients assessment, enrollment into and discharge from treatment. The DASA shoulders overall responsibility for the TARGET system, but uses the central research facility, RDA, when they want to build merged databases assessing client outcomes and outside services. In 1997, RDA staff linked quarterly wage files from the Employment Security Department to TARGET files to analyze earnings of patients who had used substance abuse treatment programs. They found that there was a dramatic increase in the earnings of clients who had completed substance abuse treatment. These positive findings spurred interest into other areas, and resulted in the continued linkage of TARGET and base wage files. RDA has also completed several research projects that linked TARGET data to Medicaid service and cost records, to the state patrol system for criminal arrest records, to child protective services records, and to birth and death data maintained by the Department of Health. These studies showed that TARGET clients who needed and received treatment were less likely to be arrested, used fewer medical services, and had healthier babies than clients who needed and did not receive treatment. DASA has received federal funds to build a production system for recording these outcomes for all publicly funded clients. RDA will build the system and feed the data to TARGET. D. Client Registry The Client Registry is an information system that cross-references clients among the many DSHS programs who have agreed to participate. It is a common registry that works by linking agency consumers in the database whose demographic information matches. RDA developed the Client Registry on a pilot basis to validate the technical feasibility of assembling client information, to explore privacy and confidentiality concerns related to data sharing, and to test the usefulness of such a system. Data in the system are collected monthly or quarterly from participating agencies. The system is intended for use by DSHS agency staff to determine whether a client is already being served by another DSHS program. It is not intended for public use. Information contained in the Client Registry includes the identifying variables of name, date of birth, and address, as well all DSHS programs in which the client is enrolled. Client records may also include contact information for the client s case manager or other information that might be needed by the police in an emergency situation.

11 E. Work First Evaluation Washington s legislature contracted with an agency outside DSHS to conduct an independent evaluation of the state s welfare reform efforts. The Institute for Public Policy (IPP) at Evergreen State College in Washington was awarded the contract for this evaluation. IPP is collecting data directly from ACES, ESD, JAS, and SSPS, such collection is separate from RDA s data collection efforts.. Beginning in 1999, IPP plans to begin collecting data from the following additional data systems: CAMIS, the Community and Technical colleges, and Support Enforcement Monitoring System (SEMS). This evaluation is limited to measuring only those outcomes specified by the legislature in its mandate to evaluate Work First. IPP expects to provide some measure of these outcomes in the second and third years of their evaluation (1999 and 2000). From ACES, IPP is collecting extracts of a limited number of variables and fields (including historical fields) for all clients in the system since January The extracts include client ID number, name, address, demographics, grant amounts and history, earnings and income reported. From these extracts they expect to establish welfare spell length and demographic profiles, but also to use client ID number and SSN to match to other database system files. From the ESD system, they are collecting and matching extracts of quarterly earnings files of all cases in their ACES extracts. To date there have been some problems with linking files because of data entry errors on the part of welfare staff or employers, such as transposed or missing SSNs. Also, as the ESD system does not contain client names or date of birth, there is no way to verify or otherwise establish matches when SSNs are entered in error or are missing. They have also found numerous errors in the dollar amounts of earnings and in the numbers of hours worked. For this reason, IPP may decide to limit its outcome measures to: worked/not worked, number of quarters worked, and number of different employers, rather than to use the actual amount of dollars earned. From JAS, IPP is collecting work training and preparation information. Components are categories such as orientation, assessment, job club, on-the-job-training, and so forth. Recently IPP began getting SSPS data. SSPS has information on the amount of child care subsidies, the amount of the parent s co-payment, the number of different child care arrangements used, and number of hours authorized and paid. In 1999, IPP will focus greater attention on child wellbeing outcomes as they begin to collect data on the children of welfare recipients found in the CAMIS system. Database development work being undertaken for this study is limited by the financial resources allocated by the state legislature. There are insufficient resources to build a real research database, although IPP considers resources available to be sufficient to serve the limited purposes of measuring the outcomes set by the legislature for this study. The resulting analyses will be composed of some basic tables with the most key variables, and these will be available for viewing on IPP s server. A more sophisticated research database would require greater computing capacity, as is found in the state s Research and Data Analysis Division.

12 IV. Contacts Fax: Fax: Fax: John Yoachim Research and Data Analysis Division, Washington Department of Social and Health Services P.O. Box 45204, Olympia WA / / Department of Social and Health Services research databases Marna Miller Research and Data Analysis Division, Washington Department of Social and Health Services P.O. Box 45204, Olympia WA / / Child Care database, SSPS Julie LeClair Employment Security Department P.O. Box Olympia, WA / JAS, WorkFirst Program James R. Sloan Division of Program Support, Medical Assistance Administration P.O. Box Olympia WA / Medicaid Claims database Bill Pruett Division of Employment Security P.O. Box 9046 Olympia, WA / Quarterly wage database Laurie Evans Division of Children and Family Services P.O. Box Olympia, WA / / Child welfare database, CAMIS Terry Nicholas

13 Division of Child Support P.O. Box Olympia, WA /664/5414 Child Support Enforcement database, SEMS Christy Ridout Washington Department of Social and Health Services 805 Plum St., Bldg 6, P.O. Box Olympia, WA / Welfare administrative database, ACES Jim Mayfield Washington State Institute for Public Policy Evergreen State College th Ave., Suite 114, P.O. Box Olympia, WA / Washington DSHS data systems and research