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Wisconsin BadgerCare Reform Approval Period: October 29, 2024 through December 31, 2029 Page 21 administrative match for these activities. Failure to comply with this STC may result in a deferral being issued as outlined in STC 8.1.

9.2. Independent Evaluator. Upon approval of the demonstration, the state must begin to arrange with an independent party to conduct an evaluation of the demonstration to ensure that the necessary data is collected at the level of detail needed to research the approved hypotheses. The independent party must sign an agreement to conduct the demonstration evaluation in an independent manner in accord with the CMS-approved, draft Evaluation Design. When conducting analyses and developing the evaluation reports, every effort should be made to follow the approved methodology. However, the state may request, and CMS may agree to, changes in the methodology in appropriate circumstances.

9.3. Draft Evaluation Design. The state must submit, for CMS comment and approval, a draft Evaluation Design, no later than one hundred eighty (180) calendar days after approval of the demonstration. Any modifications to an existing approved Evaluation Design will not affect previously established requirements and timelines for report submission for the demonstration, if applicable. a. The draft Evaluation Design must be developed in accordance with the following CMS guidance (including but not limited to): b. Attachment C (Developing the Evaluation Design) of these STCs, technical assistance for developing SUD Evaluation Designs (as applicable, and as provided by CMS), and all applicable technical assistance on how to establish comparison groups to develop a draft Evaluation Design.

9.4. Evaluation Design Approval and Updates. The state must submit a revised draft Evaluation Design within sixty (60) calendar days after receipt of CMS’ comments. Upon CMS approval, the approved Evaluation Design will be included as an attachment to these STCs. Per 42 CFR 431.424(c), the state will publish the approved Evaluation Design within thirty (30) calendar days of CMS approval. The state must implement the Evaluation Design and submit a description of its evaluation progress in each of the Monitoring Reports. Once CMS approves the Evaluation Design, if the state wishes to make changes, the state must submit a revised Evaluation Design to CMS for approval if the changes are substantial in scope; otherwise, in consultation with CMS, the state may include updates to the evaluation design in monitoring reports.

9.5. Evaluation Questions and Hypotheses. Consistent with Attachments C and D (Developing the Evaluation Design and Preparing the Interim and Summative Evaluation Reports) of these STCs, the evaluation documents must include a discussion of the evaluation questions and hypotheses that the state intends to test. Each demonstration component should have at least one evaluation question and hypothesis. The hypothesis testing should include, where possible, assessment of both process and outcome measures. Proposed measures should be selected from nationally-recognized sources and national measures sets, where possible. Measures sets could include CMS’s Core Set of Health Care Quality Measures for Children in Medicaid and CHIP, CMS’ measure sets for eligibility and coverage, Consumer Assessment of Health Care Providers and Systems (CAHPS), the Initial Core Set of Health Care Quality Measures for Medicaid-Eligible Adults and/or measures endorsed by National Quality Forum (NQF).