Research for Methodology

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Tidewater TriCare: An Analysis of Beneficiary Access and Satisfaction
March 1, 1996
As medical care in the civilian sector is moving toward managed care, so it is in the military. The Office of the Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs) has sponsored a series of demonstration projects - limited implementations of health care management programs. One such program is TriCare, in the Tidewater area of Virginia. The project, which began in late 1992, was to have two major changes in the financing and delivery of health care. The program included three options for beneficiaries: Prime (an HMO), Extra (a preferred provider organization) and Standard (the standard CHAMPUS) option. The purpose of this research memorandum is to present the findings from our analysis of changes in the levels of access and satisfaction with military-sponsored medical care. The analysis is based on data we collected for an evaluation of the TriCare demonstrations project in Tidewater, Virginia.
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A Methodology for Evaluation of PREP Area Exercises
February 1, 1996
For many years, the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) has been charged with reconstructing and analyzing the Navy's major fleet exercises. Before deploying, a carrier battle group completes its work-up cycle by participating in a major exercise war. CNA provides reconstruction and analysis support at the request of the fleet commanders, who need an objective evaluation of their battle group's tactics and readiness. On 26 and 27 September 1995, Commander, Naval Base San Diego and Fleet Industrial Supply Center, Sand Diego hosted the 1995 San Diego Preparedness for Response Exercise Program (PREP) Area Exercise. This report documents our evaluation methodology, and offers a suggested evaluation plan for use in future PREP area exercises.
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Current Housing Allowance Methodology: Anomalies and Alternatives
January 1, 1996
This analysis begins with a review of the current expenditure-based system. The system uses member survey information on housing expenditures to set the allowance rates. First, we will demonstrate how the current system should work in theory. Second, we will explore some of the problems in the current system either from its theoretical underpinnings or its method of execution. Third, we argue for a price-based alternative to the expenditure-based system. A price-based alternative uses rental prices for units of comparable size and quality to set the housing allowances for the different housing areas.
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Performing Industrial Base Analyses Volume I: Methodology
August 1, 1995
In November 1994, the Secretary of the Navy asked the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development and Acquisition) [ASN(RD&A)] to assess the minimum essential industrial base that the Department must sustain. The assessment was to become part of the FY97 Program Review (PR-97). In turn, ASN(RD&A) asked CNA to help support the assessment process. In addition to PR-97 support, the sponsor asked CNA to develop a framework for addressing industrial base questions because the Navy Department is required to perform many of these industrial base assessments. This paper proposes a CNA methodology for conducting industrial base studies. It is designed as an instructional document to guide analysts in capturing economic sources of industrial base risks. This framework helps to identify likely problems and then to tailor feasible solutions. The framework is general enough to be applied to a wide variety of industrial base items. The goal of this paper is to separate the important factors regarding the industrial base from the extraneous ones. By highlighting the key elements and economic dynamics, the methodology can support Navy and Marine Corps decisions on critical industrial base issues.
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Methodology for Evaluating the Effect of Tricare on Readiness
September 1, 1994
The military is experimenting with managed care options as a vehicle for reforming the military health care system. Will this move to managed care affect medical readiness? The Military Health Services System (MHSS) has a dual mission. It provides medical services to the armed forces during military operations and supplies continuous health care services to active duty personnel, their dependents, retirees, and their dependents. During peacetime, the MHSS concentrates on maintaining the fitness of active duty personnel and providing services to nonactive-duty beneficiaries. However, the MHSS must always be ready to support military operations. This information memorandum explores how a managed care plan--the TRICARE demonstration project in the Virginia Tidewater area--may affect medicl readiness. In this paper, we outline a methodology and identify data sources for determining the impact of TRICARE on medical readiness.
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Development and Scoring of Hands-on Performance Tests for Mechanical Maintenance Specialties
March 1, 1992
This memorandum reports the procedures used for the development and scoring of hands-on performance tests for the mechanical maintenance phase of the Job Performance Measurement project.
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Development of ASVAB Norms for the Student Testing Program
June 1, 1991
The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) is administered in high schools and post-secondary schools as part of DoD's Student Testing Program. Norms for 11th and higher grades are based on a national sample tested in 1980 as part of the Profile of American Youth Study. Tenth grade norms use a nonrandom sample collected in 1984 by the Military Entrance Processing Command. With the introduction of Forms 18 and 19, scores will be reported on three composites and ten subtests. The objective of this research memorandum is to present norms for these scores.
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Development of Overlength Forms for a New Enlistment Screening Test
December 1, 1990
Overlength forms, containing about 50 percent more items than needed in the final forms, have been developed for a new Enlistment Screening Test. These forms were constructed using items from discontinued forms of the DoD's test batteries. This research memorandum describes the data analyses and their results.
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Evaluating Minimum Aptitude Standards for the Infantry Occupational Field
August 1, 1990
The purpose of this paper is to present a rationale for evaluating minimum qualifiying standards that incorporate policy guidance and directives together with data from the Job Performance Measurement (JPM) project. First, policy guidance and directives are discussed and defined more precisely for use in quantitative analyses. The policy statements are then applied to results from the JPM project to compute a minimum qualifying aptitude score for the infantry occupational field.
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Use of MEPRS Data for Comparing CHAMPUS and MTF Costs
August 1, 1990
The Medical Expense and Performance Reporting System (MEPRS) contains detailed cost and workload data for Navy Medical Treatment Facilities (MTFs). This memorandum describes some of the limitations of MEPRS data for calculating cost per admission by medical specialty. Some of these limitations stem from the organization of MEPRS data by functional work centers; others reflect problems in the collection of MEPRS data.
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