National Surveys of Older Americans Act, Title III Service Recipients (POMP) 

Background

The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) requires Federal agencies to use 

performance measurement, particularly outcome measurement, to improve the 

performance of Federal programs. Further, the Office of Management and Budget has 

introduced the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART), which they use to evaluate the 

performance of Federal programs. The PART places additional emphasis on assessing 

program performance through outcome measurement. 

National Surveys

For the past four years, AoA has been conducting national, annual surveys of recipients 

of select Title III) for the purpose of obtaining performance outcome measurement 

information that is used in AoA’s GPRA plan and PART assessment. The survey 

instruments focus on consumer assessment of service quality and consumer-reported 

outcomes. The instruments also measure special needs characteristics of the people who 

receive services such as physical and social functioning. 

The First National Pilot Survey was conducted in FY 2002-2003 with sample surveys of 

recipients of home-delivered, meals, congregate meals, transportation services, 

homemaker services, information and referral/assistance and caregivers of select OAA 

service recipients. The targeted sample size per service was 480. The first survey 

demonstrated the feasibility of using national surveys for performance 

measurement and produced positive results as follows: services provided by the 

National Aging Services Network 1) are highly rated by recipients; 2) are effectively 

targeted to vulnerable populations and individuals who need the service; and 3) 

provide assistance to individuals and caregivers which is instrumental in allowing 

older persons to maintain their independence and avoid premature nursing home 

placement. Highlights are at www.gpra.net under the reports section. 

The Second National Pilot Survey was conducted in FY 2004 and included recipients of 

the services included in the first survey plus caregivers receiving services under the 

National Family Caregiver Support Program (NFCSP). The targeted sample size per 

service was 720. The results of the second national survey confirmed the results of the 

first national survey as follows: services provided by the National Aging Services 

Network 1) are highly rated by recipients; 2) are effectively targeted to vulnerable 

populations and individuals who need the service; and 3) provide assistance to 

individuals and caregivers which is instrumental in allowing older persons to 

maintain their independence and avoid premature nursing home placement. For 

the First National Survey, these findings applied only to services received by the 

elderly. The Second National Survey confirmed these original findings and 

expanded them to the NFCSP as well. Highlights, frequency tables and a 

description of the methodology for the Second National Survey can be found at 

www.gpra.net. 
The Third National Survey was conducted in FY 2005 and included recipients of homedelivered meals; transportation and NFCSP services. Sample sizes for the homedelivered meals and transportation surveys were increased to 2,500 and caregivers to 

1,000. This will permit subgroup analysis. Data analysis is currently underway. 

The Fourth National Survey is under development.