CSAT’s GPRA STRATEGY 

OVERVIEW
 

The Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (Public Law-103-62), known as 

GPRA, requires all Federal departments and agencies to develop strategic plans that 

specify what they will accomplish over a three to five year period, to annually set 

performance targets related to their strategic plan, and to annually report the degree to 

which the targets set in the previous year were met. In addition, agencies are expected to 

regularly conduct evaluations of their programs and to use the results of those evaluations 

to explain their successes and failures based on the performance monitoring data. While 

the language of the statute talks about separate Annual Performance Plans and Annual 

Performance Reports, the Assistant Secretary for Management and Budget of the U.S. 

Department of Health and Human Services (ASMB/HHS) has chosen to incorporate the 

elements of the annual reports into the annual President’s Budget and supporting 

documents. This document provides an overview of how the Center for Substance Abuse 

Treatment (CSAT), in conjunction with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services 

Administration’s Office of the Administrator (SAMHSA/OA), Center for Mental Health 

Services (CMHS), and Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP), are addressing 

these statutory requirements. 

DEFINITIONS 

The following terms are used throughout this report: 

Performance Monitoring The ongoing measurement and reporting of program 

accomplishments, particularly progress towards preestablished goals. The monitoring can involve process, 

output, and outcome measures. 

Evaluation Individual systematic studies conducted periodically or as 

needed to assess how well a program is working and why 

particular outcomes have (or have not) been achieved. 

Program For GPRA reporting purposes, a set of activities that have a 

common purpose and for which targets can (will) be 

established. 

Activity A group of grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts 

that together are directed toward a common objective. 

Project An individual grant, cooperative agreement, or contract. 

1
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SAMHSA’S NATIONAL OUTCOMES MEASURES 

In 2002, SAMHSA developed a matrix of program priorities and cross-cutting principles 

that has guided the agency’s overall program and management decisions, and daily 

operations. The matrix is presented in Appendix I. In addition, SAMHSA’s draft 

Strategic Plan identifies the agency goals as Accountability, Capacity, and Effectiveness 

(ACE). SAMHSA has categorized performance measures according to the Capacity and 

Effectiveness goals. The stated outcomes of SAMHSA’s draft strategic plan are: 

•	 Complete implementation of Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment 

Block Grant performance measures (Accountability); 

•	 Achieve timely implementation of the Program Assessment Rating Tool 

(PART) program review findings (Accountability); 

•	 Achieve and maintain a “green light” on all HHS Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB) management reviews (Accountability); 

•	 Maintain the number of persons served in SAMHSA’s Targeted Capacity 

Expansion and Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant 

programs (Capacity); 

•	 Double the number of service improvements implemented (Effectiveness) 

•	 Expand the National Registry of Effective Programs to substance abuse 

treatment and to mental health (Effectiveness). 

An essential component of SAMHSA’s data strategy is the development of “National 

Outcome Measures.” Through collaboration with the States, SAMHSA has identified ten 

key data domains that will become valuable in measuring how effective the 

implementation of substance abuse treatment services is in communities across the 

nation. Three of the outcome measures relate to mental health. The seven key domains 

related to CSAT are: (1) abstinence from drug use and alcohol abuse, or decreased 

mental illness symptomatology; (2) increased or retained employment and school 

enrollment; (3) decreased involvement with the criminal justice system; (4) increased 

stability in family and living conditions; (5) increased access to services; (6) increased 

retention in services for substance abuse treatment or decreased utilization of psychiatric 

inpatient beds for mental health treatment; and (7) increased social connectedness to 

family, friends, co-workers and classmates. 

These national outcome measures will be aligned across all of SAMHSA’s programs, 

including the Community Mental Health Services Block Grant and the Substance Abuse 

Prevention and Treatment (SAPT) Block Grants. They are an attempt to provide greater 

flexibility and accountability. Ultimately this will ensure the data collected are relevant, 

useful and complete the Science to Services cycle. 

2
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GPRA REPORTING FOR CSAT PROGRAMS 

CSAT’s primary mission is to bring effective alcohol and drug treatment to every 

community. The number of people served reflects the extent to which CSAT funding has 

supported the provision of service. CSAT has set GPRA goals for each of its programs 

and a standard set of output measures has been identified to correspond with these goals. 

These measures will provide the basis for establishing targets and reporting performance 

for individual CSAT activities and the entire program. 

Targeted Capacity Expansion 

Each project that provides services to individuals, as a part of the major services activities 

of CSAT, is required to collect a uniform set of data from each individual at 

admission/intake to services, discharge, and six months after admission/intake. The 

GPRA measures for services are: 

Percentage of adults or children/adolescents under age 18 receiving services who: 

a) were currently employed or engaged in productive activities/attending 

school; 

b) had a permanent place to live in the community/were residing in a 

stable living environment; 

c) had no/reduced involvement with the criminal/juvenile justice system; 

d) had increased access to services; 

e) had no past month substance use; 

f) were socially connected; 

g) were retained in services for substance abuse treatment. 

An additional measure is currently collected to increase understanding of alcohol 

or illegal drug related health, behavioral, or social consequences of use. 

Best Practices 

The Best Practices Program, previously known as the Knowledge Application Program, 

was created to promote the adoption of best practices to improve the effectiveness of 

substance abuse treatment. These programs, such as the Addiction Technology Transfer 

Center and the Product Development and Targeted Dissemination contract, produce 

addiction-related publications to keep treatment professionals updated on the latest 

research and other cutting-edge issues that impact their work. These programs also 

provide ongoing education opportunities for those in the substance abuse field. The 

GPRA measures for Best Practices are: 

Measure 1: Increase (a) the number of individuals trained per year and (b) the 

number of events held per year. 

3
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a key measure for tracking CSAT’s mission of promoting effective 

treatment through the adoption of evidence-based practices. Tracking the number 

of training events is critical for documenting the delivery of service and 

dissemination of relevant information to the field. This is measured through the 

CSAT Training Satisfaction Survey. 

Measure 2: Increase percentage of stakeholders who (a) would rate the quality of 

the events as good, very good, or excellent; (b) shared any of the information 

from the events with others; (c) have used information from “Best Practice” 

events or activities to promote or effect change. 

Measure 3: Increase the percentage of grantees in appropriate cost bands. 

SAPT Block Grant 

The SAPT Block Grant, the cornerstone of States’ substance abuse programs, is an 

integral part of the President’s Drug Treatment Initiative. In the fall of 1999, CSAT 

developed an OMB-approved annual customer satisfaction survey with the 

States/Territories on the SAPT Block Grant activities. The measures for the SAPT Block 

Grant are: 

Measure 1: Number of clients served (measured through the Treatment Episode 

Data Set.) 

Measure 2: Increase the number of States and territories voluntarily reporting 

performance measures in their SAPT Block Grant application. 

Measure 3: Increase the percentage of States that express satisfaction with 

Technical Assistance provided (measured through the annual customer 

satisfaction survey.) 

Measure 4: Increase the percentage of Technical Assistance events that result in 

systems, program or practice change. 

Measure 5: Increase the percentage of Block Grant applications that include 

needs assessment data. (The data source is the annual uniform SAPT Block Grant 

Electronic Application System that generates aggregated reports on States’ 

submission of the treatment Needs Assessment Summary.) 

Measure 6: Increase the percentage of States that indicate satisfaction with CSAT 

customer service, throughout the entire Block Grant process (measured through 

the annual customer satisfaction survey.) 

Measure 7: Increase percentage of States reporting satisfaction with CSAT’s 

responsiveness to State suggestions on services (measured through the annual 

customer satisfaction survey.) 

4
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Measure 8: Increase percentage of States in appropriate cost bands (to be 

captured in the FY 2005 application.) 

Measure 9: Percentage of clients reporting change in abstinence at discharge (to 

be based on data received in the application on October 1, 2005.) 

EVALUATION 

Evaluation of GPRA activities refers to assessments of program performance through the 

routine monitoring and analysis of data that explores changes in the performance 

measures. These analyses can also address specific questions posed by program 

managers about their programs. These types of evaluations are explicitly described and 

conducted within the GPRA framework. 

On a rotating basis, program evaluations will be conducted to validate the performance 

data and to extend our understanding of the impacts of the activities on the adoption of 

best practices. 

5
 
 

 

APPENDIX I
 

6