Healthy Start is a 5-year program that encourages community-based strategies for reducing infant mortality. This report addresses Congressional concerns of preliminary evaluation results reported by the press concerning the program's efficacy. The report strives to answer three Congressional concerns: (1) the plan for the national program evaluation; (2) what the contractor hired to evaluate the plan's preliminary results has found thus far; and (3) what is expected from the final evaluation. The report concludes by noting that since the national evaluation of the Healthy Start program has yet to be completed, preliminary results should not be interpreted as conclusive. The final report on the national evaluation will include an extensive description of the program, indicate whether it has reduced infant mortality rates at Healthy Start sites, and provide an analysis of how program characteristics have influenced outcomes. The final evaluation report will analyze 4 years of data, though it is noted that this may be insufficient for judging the success of the program. Analysis of the fifth year will be done, but will not reflect as many years of mature program operation as possible; thus, a sixth-year evaluation is strongly suggested. (SD)