This report provides improper payment estimates for fiscal year 2011 using a methodology for “aging” the 2005 bookend study. The methodology yields nationally representative estimates of the number of vendors that over- and undercharged and the amount of over- and undercharges across all WIC vendors.
This report provides improper payment estimates for FY 2010 using a methodology for “aging” the 2005 bookend study. The methodology yields nationally representative estimates of the number of vendors that over- and undercharged and the amount of over- and undercharges across all WIC vendors.
This report provides improper payments estimates for FY 2009 using a methodology for “aging” the 2005 bookend study. This updates previous reports providing estimates from 2005 to 2008.
About every 7 years, FNS performs a nationally representative study to examine the extent of error and abuse among food vendors authorized to accept WIC vouchers. The last bookend study was the 2005 WIC Vendor Management Study, which used fiscal year 2005 expenditure data to derive an estimate for 2004. Between bookend studies, there is a need to derive annual estimates of the level of improper payments for compliance with the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002. The purpose of the subsequent annual studies was to provide annual updates to the bookend studies using the developed aging methodology.
This report, the first of three, addresses the first objective of the study, which is to explore the characteristics and experiences of WIC participants.
In 2006, FNS asked the Institute of Medicine to review the WIC food packages. The IOM proposed major changes to improve nutrition and encourage breastfeeding but also expressed the concern that changes related to partial breastfeeding may have unintended consequences. The IOM recommended that FNS conduct an impact study evaluating the birth month breastfeeding changes to the WIC food packages.
This report begins with an overview of the WIC program, including its administrative structure and benefits, and a detailed description of the literature search protocol used to identify the studies included.
The WIC and Head Start programs share common goals. Both programs strive to promote positive health and nutrition status for young families. Both programs provide young children and families with nutritious foods, health and nutrition education, and assistance in accessing on-going preventive health care. In many communities, WIC and Head Start serve the same families. By working together, programs have an opportunity to coordinate these services and maximize use of scarce resources (e.g., funding, staff, space). Working together can mean minimizing duplicative efforts on the part of families and staff; more opportunities for WIC and Head Start to benefit from each program’s strengths, expertise and best practices; and ultimately, more ways to make a positive impact on good health and nutrition for children and families.
The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), which administers the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), asked Mathematica Policy Research to examine more closely Medicaid's role in adjunct eligible for WIC and do not have to show further proof of income to qualify.
This report reviews recent approaches to estimating the numbers of persons eligible for and participating in WIC. It also describes issues concerning these estimates that may be worthy of review and synthesizes research on these issues.