BETHESDA, MD — Abt Associates employees have been named among the five winners of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Excellence in Evaluation competition for their work evaluating an insurance program for low-income workers in Nicaragua. The evaluation was conducted as part of the global five-year Private Sector Partnerships for Health-One (PSP-One) project and was funded by USAID with co-funding from the Global Development Network.
By randomizing incentives to enroll in the insurance program, the researchers were able to get an unbiased picture of the effect of the insurance on health care utilization and out-of-pocket spending. Focus group discussions provided additional insight into what worked and what didn’t in the program’s implementation. Results were also published in the journal Health Economics.
Drs. Hatt and Islam, along with former Abt employee Dr. Tania Dmytraczenko, began conducting this research under the PSP-One project several years before USAID expressed its current preference for experimental designs and rigorous evaluation. PSP-One was implemented by Abt and funded by USAID.
About Abt Associates
Abt Associates is a mission-driven, global leader in research and program implementation in the fields of health, social and environmental policy, and international development. Known for its rigorous approach to solving complex challenges, Abt Associates was ranked as one of the top 20 global research firms in 2011 and also named one of the top 40 international development innovators. The company has multiple offices in the U.S. and program offices in nearly 40 countries.
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