Budget office, ORDA propose tying program inventories to budget reporting to show costs and outcomes

Budget office staff and the Office of Research and Data Analytics (ORDA) briefed the committee on efforts to revive and improve the Executive Program and Service Inventory (EPC) and to align it with the state's reporting-level (RL) budget structure.

Josh Hannon (budget office/OBPP) and Paul Belady (ORDA) described a pilot to make program inventories one‑page, link them to RL3/RL4 budget rollups and add clearer budget detail (including special funds like ARPA). The aim is that a legislator or staff member can click a program-level RL3 (for example, childcare or SNAP) and instantly see the dollar amounts and the underlying RL4 line items that comprise it.

Belady described ORDA's complementary role: building longitudinal databases and performance metrics that let analysts measure outcomes across silos — for example, which hospital systems most effectively divert unnecessary emergency room visits or how community interventions affect child welfare outcomes. He said ORDA is small but is cooperating with Montana State and the University of Montana to build analytic capacity.

Committee members emphasized that linking impact and cost is essential for budget decisions. Members asked how quickly new RL3/RL4 entries can be added and whether cross-agency interventions could be tracked; staff said timing varies by agency but that the structure is feasible and will not remove existing budget detail.

Public comment after the presentations raised an immediate budget risk example: Jamie Palagi, CEO of Intermountain Children's, urged legislators not to cut Medicaid provider rates and described delayed payments that stress provider capacity. She asked the committee to preserve rate increases planned for FY2027 to support workforce recruitment and service availability.

The office of the budget and ORDA offered to accept suggested research questions from legislators for prioritization and to continue refining the EPC ahead of the next budget cycle. The committee did not take formal votes at the hearing.