The Children's Health Insurance Program: expanding the framework to evaluate state goals and performance

A comprehensive framework was devised to evaluate the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) established in 1997. The framework relies on a number of potential measures and data sources for reviewing the program information recorded by states in SCHIP applications, particularly their strategic objectives and proposed performance measures. The analysis reveals that the states propose a wide range of objectives and measures and that there is considerable variation among the states. Overall, states' SCHIP plans tend to stress program enrollment and access to services but fail to emphasize the type and quality of services children receive once they are enrolled in the program. A broader conceptual framework is needed for policy makers, advocates, and researchers to make a full assessment of state goals and SCHIP performance.