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THIS-WIC - Telehealth Intervention Strategies for WIC
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The purpose of the Telehealth Intervention Strategies for WIC (THIS-WIC) is to competitively select State Agencies to implement promising and well-designed telehealth innovations that supplement the WIC nutrition education including breastfeeding support offered in the WIC clinic, while decreasing barriers to access among WIC participants. THIS-WIC rigorously evaluates the interventions implemented by sub-grantees, including a process evaluation and cost estimate and disseminates findings to inform the WIC Program at the Federal, State, and local level, and contribute to the evidence base related to telehealth. Additionally, the program coordinates meetings that provide meaningful opportunities for information-sharing and project coordination.
This chart shows obligations for the program by fiscal year. All data for this chart was provided by the
administering agency and sourced from SAM.gov, USASpending.gov, and Treasury.gov.
For more information on each of these data sources, please see the
About the data page.
USDA/Tufts Telehealth Intervention Strategies for WIC (THIS-WIC) accomplished and progressed to completing a number of milestones. On November 7, 2019, Tufts hosted the kickoff meeting with our leadership team and advisory board members. In early October 2019, THIS-WIC sent out an interest survey to WIC State Agencies (SAs) for the grant opportunity. They received responses from 60 unique SAs and heard from 48 SA Directors. Conducting the survey allowed THIS-WIC to build awareness around the grant opportunity while gathering valuable feedback on what technical support requests and concerns SAs have. The survey responses also helped to guide the creation of the Request for Proposal (RFP), including selection criteria and communication materials and resources (e.g., Resource Library). Throughout the first quarter, THIS-WIC has been working collaboratively with FNS to obtain feedback on the RFP. On February 5, 2020, THIS-WIC released the request for proposals (RFP) and launched the website. THIS-WIC worked collaboratively to disseminate the RFP broadly. Organizations such as the National WIC Association (NWA), Association of State Public Health Nutritionists, and Association of Maternal & Child Health Program raised awareness around the opportunity. THIS-WIC, NWA, and FNS sent announcement emails directly to WIC State Agency (SA) Directors. Additionally, phone calls were made in an attempt to engage SAs Directors that did not respond to our formative research survey in the fall. THIS-WIC organized three webinars to share general information about the RFP, Telehealth Resource Centers, and the evaluation process. The RFP, Telehealth Resource Center, and evaluation webinar had 107, 93, and 99 registrations respectively. The webinars engaged 36 unique SAs and had an average of 69 participants. The project management team (PMT) recorded webinars and posted them to the website shortly after their airing, along with responses to participants’ questions. After the webinars, THIS-WIC continued outreach to SAs through multiple channels. The THIS-WIC weekly digest engages 90 listserv members by sharing frequently asked questions, resources, and updates. Every Monday, NWA also reminds SAs of the opportunity through their Monday reports. Organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and Black Mothers’ Breast Feeding Association promoted the opportunity through social media (e.g., Twitter, Facebook). In addition to disseminating the RFP, the project management team organized procedures for reviewing brief and full proposals. The team finalized scoring rubrics and the SurveyMonkey Apply platform for the review process. The PMT also selected nine team members for the brief proposal review that cover the expertise of nutrition, WIC, and telehealth.
By the end of year 2, October 2021, the grantee had selected the final THIS-WIC State Agency (SA) grantees, onboarded the SA grantees, worked closely with SA grantees to refine intervention planning and develop their individual evaluation plans, and worked with the THIS-WIC leadership team and FNS to finalize the cross-cutting and state-specific evaluation plans for the funded projects.
By the end of year 3, September 2022, each of the seven THIS-WIC State Agency grantees began implementation of their telehealth projects and began collecting data to evaluate their projects, in accordance with their State-specific evaluation plans.
Priority area 1 subgrantees have completed implementation and priority area 2 subgrantees are approaching completion of data collection. Data collection and analysis continues. Presentation on THIS-WIC early implementation findings planned at ASN in July 2023.
All subgrantees have completed their projects. A convening of all subgrantees to share preliminary findings with FNS took place in November 2023. 508 compliant final reports are being completed and a presentation of the crosscutting report findings will take place in September 2024.
Single Audit Applies (2 CFR Part 200 Subpart F):
For additional information on single audit requirements for this program, review the current Compliance Supplement.
OMB is working with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) and agency offices of inspectors general to include links to relevant oversight reports. This section will be updated once this information is made available.
