California Area OfficeGovernment Performance and Results Act (GPRA)
The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) requires that each federal agency develop an annual performance plan and provide an annual performance report. The overall agency performance is evaluated and taken into consideration during the annual budget approval process. The Indian Health Service (IHS) has developed a set of GPRA performance indicators with annual and long-term goals to measure the progress of the agency in improving the health status of American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN).
Prior to 2003, measuring GPRA performance was a labor-intensive process that required manual chart audits of medical records. In 2003, IHS switched to an electronic data collection method known first as GPRA+ and later as the Clinical Reporting System (CRS). CRS is a Resource Patient Management System (RPMS) based software package that allows IHS to collect comparable data from all participating IHS, tribal and urban sites throughout the country. In addition, it is a valuable tool to drive the improvement of health care for AI/AN people since health program staff can use the GPRA report that CRS generates to identify and target specific clinical indicators that need improvement. The CRS software also provides the ability to generate lists of patients who are in need of specific tests and screening procedures associated with each clinical indicator.
In 2003 the California Area IHS (CAIHS) assumed a leadership role for certain GPRA activities within the Indian Health Service. The CAIHS is responsible for facilitating data collection and analysis from all IHS areas. In addition, the CAIHS assists in the preparation of the annual IHS GPRA report that is submitted to Congress as part of the budget submission. The CAIHS continues to work with all of the tribal and urban Indian health programs in California to improve their local GPRA performance. In 2005 CAIHS began issuing GPRA Bulletins to transmit current GPRA information to programs. Links to the most current bulletins appear under "News and Announcements on the right.
Frequently Asked Questions
Contains answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA).
