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Capacity Assessment for State Title V (CAST-5)
Capacity
Assessment for State Title V (CAST-5) is a set of assessment
and planning tools designed to assist state Title V programs in
examining their organizational capacity to carry out core maternal
and child health (MCH) functions.
Based on the 10 Essential Services set forth in the Public MCH
Program Functions Framework: Essential Public Health Services to
Promote Maternal and Child Health in America, CAST-5 provides a
process for:
- Articulating program vision, mission, and strategies for reaching
population health goals,
- Assessing performance of core functions,
- Identifying organizational resources necessary for optimal performance,
and
- Developing a capacity-building action plan.
The CAST-5 tools are designed to accommodate wide variation in
state programming structures and to be useful for strategic planning
in different health policy and systems contexts. They can be used
collectively for a comprehensive assessment of program capacity
needs that includes the identification of opportunities for capacity
development, or they can be used singly for appraisals of narrower
scope. Given the wide range of resources with which state MCH programs
operate, key assessment elements are structured along a continuum,
allowing programs to characterize their capacity needs using relevant
reference points. Moreover, recognizing that responsibility for
the health and well-being of MCH populations extends beyond Title
V, the assessment of program resources takes into account the contributions
of other agencies, organizations, and institutions in implementing
public MCH functions. Although the tools are designed for use at
the state level, in the future they may be adapted for use by local
MCH programs.
CAST-5 is an initiative of the
Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs and the Johns
Hopkins University Women's and Children's Health Policy Center (WCHPC), in partnership with the Health Resources and Services Administration Maternal and Child Health Bureau.
Table of Contents
Overview
of CAST-5 
Planning
for CAST-5
CAST-5 Tools
and Guidance
- CAST-5 Second
Edition
- Guidance
on Using CAST-5 with Title V Program Planning and Assessment Activities
- Files for Recording Results
Support and Resources
Related Projects
- National
Public Health Performance Standards Program
CAST-5 was designed to be compatible with the performance measurement
tools developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's
Public Health Practice Programs Office in partnership with the Association
of State and Territorial Health Officers and the National Association
of City and County Health Officers as part of the National
Public Health Performance Standards Program (NPHPSP). Like CAST-5,
those assessment tools are structured around the 10 Essential Services
and address both performance and capacity related to core public
health functions. Both CAST-5 and the NPHPSP tools are intended
to be used as part of an ongoing, quality improvement cycle.
The principal difference between CAST-5 and the NPHPSP tools is
the segment of the public health system to which they are directed;
the NPHPSP was developed to assess the generic public health system,
while CAST-5 provides a process and framework for assessing state-level
maternal and child health programs. More specifically, CAST-5 is
intended to be used by state Title V (the maternal and child health
block grant to the states) programs to assess performance and identify
capacity-building opportunities. Further, CAST-5 is designed for
use only at the state level, although some components may be adapted
for use at the local level.
Despite these differences in focus, the NPHPSP state-level assessment
and CAST-5 are complementary tools, and they can be carried out
simultaneously by the overall state agency and the Title V agency.
For a discussion of the similarities, differences and relationships
among CAST-5, the NPHPSP and Title V Performance Measures, see Assessing
Capacity and Measuring Performance in Maternal and Child Health (Maternal and Child Health Journal, Vol. 6, No. 2, June
2002).
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Capacity Assessment for State Title V: Second Edition is copyrighted.
Readers may duplicate and use in non-commercial applications all or
part of the information contained in this publication. In accordance
with accepted publishing standards, the Johns Hopkins Women’s and
Children’s Health Policy Center and the Association of Maternal and
Child Health Programs request acknowledgment, in print, of any
information reproduced in another publication. ©2004 AMCHP
Last Updated
November 14, 2007
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