A new report from the Washington legislature’s non-partisan policy analysis unit, the Washington State Institute For Public Policy, finds that of 98 programs recently reviewed for what researchers liken to an investment advisor’s “buy-sell” list, 79 pass muster financially, with measured per-participant financial benefits to the state which exceed costs; but 19 do not. Another 45 which are identified, haven’t been recently evaluated for cost effectiveness, the report says. Of the new results in the April 2012 report – titled “Return On Investment: Evidence-Based Options to Improve Statewide Outcomes” – the so-called “net present value” (benefits to the state per participant minus costs) was highest for a series of juvenile justice and adult criminal justice programs, and lowest for a sub-group of child and teen prevention and preK-12 education programs including Early Head Start and Even Start.
Collaboration in Civic Spheres
Archive for the ‘Best Practices’ Category
UW Dental School should ban free samples, prof urges
by Matt Rosenberg October 28th, 2011
Dental schools including that of the University of Washington should seriously consider banning free drug and product samples due to ethical, medical, consumer and educational considerations, says UW Professor of Dentistry Philippe Hujoel after completing a study just published in The Journal of Dental Education. The study found that a group of UW dental students appeared to suffer compromised medical judgement as a result of being exposed to free samples of a high-priced “sensitizing” toothpaste.
Politiwidgets lets you embed data on U.S. officeholders
by Matt Rosenberg October 3rd, 2011
Whether you write online about public affairs or are just doing some due diligence on an officeholder, Politiwidgets is a government transparency toolset worth exploring. Developed by technologists at the non-profit Sunlight Foundation in Washington, D.C., Politiwidgets let you embed easy-to-read graphics of performance and contextual data on members of the U.S. Congress and Senate into online articles, blog posts or social media entries. The data are all drawn from first-rate cited sources, to which links are provided.
Widgets can be customized to different sizes/Poliwidgets
At Politiwidgets, each member of Congress or the Senate has their own page with a range of data in several categories. Here are the Politiwidgets main pages of all Washington state U.S. Representatives and Senators. The first feature is their “business card” which includes contact information, plus a link to their Web site and social media accounts. Getting into the data, you can see how many bills a legislator has sponsored versus how many of those have been enacted, and how those figures compare to the average for legislators in their chamber. You can also review and compare the records of legislators on how many earmarks – appropriations which are directed to specific recipients – they have have won approval of, again versus the average for legislators in their chamber.
Other legislator data at Politiwidgets includes voting records, campaign contributions, top contributors, interest group ratings, top U.S. government contractors in their district, and district map.
I’ll demo Poliwidgets by showing the most recent full-year earmarks data for each member of the Washington state delegation. U.S. Rep. Jamie Herrera (R-3) isn’t included because she was just elected last November, and there’s no data reported for her yet in that category at Politiwidgets. I’ve used the earmarks widget for U.S. Rep. Adam Smith (D-9) (above) to show a different size option than those below and to illustrate that with a bit of elementary code you can embed the widgets neatly in text, and add a caption.
The Sunlight Foundation invites active bloggers on public policy and politics who’ve used Politiwidgets to share their feedback in an online survey.
Medicare’s improper payments totaled $48 billion-plus in 2010
by Matt Rosenberg August 3rd, 2011
SUMMARY: In recent testimony to a U.S. House subcommittee, officials of the Government Accountability Office reported that improper payments in 2010 for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Medicare program totaled at least $48 billion, or 38 percent of the total by U.S. agencies. This includes overpayments, underpayments, unnecessary services, and coding and calculation mistakes; but the reporting system is not designed to detect Medicare fraud. The sub-total also does not include improper payments under Medicare prescription drug benefit, for which 2010 estimates were not provided by HHS. GAO stressed that it has made five key recommendations to HHS to better control Medicare improper payments, but that implementation is incomplete. Medicare’s $48 billion in improper payments for 2010 rose $12.6 billion from the total of $35.4 billion in 2009, or 26 percent.
National Academies: green buildings can harm health, productivity, costing billions
by Melissa Steffan July 26th, 2011
SUMMARY: According to a recent report prepared for the United States Environmental Protection Agency under the supervision of the Institutes of Medicine of the National Academies, the use of new, energy-efficient building materials or construction methods in new or retrofitted buildings, in response to climate change concerns, may not only save energy but can also restrict ventilation, heighten allergenic symptoms, promote the growth of fungi and bacteria, and increase the risk of infectious diseases – contributing to indoor health symptoms and lowering productivity while costing the economy tens of billions of dollars per year. The report recommends the EPA develop and implement new, indoor health-related standards for building materials and ventilation, in order to elevate the indoor environment as a priority in climate change policy.
Legislative audit: benefits of Washington state’s green buildings not clear
by Kyle Kim July 7th, 2011
SUMMARY: The benefits of Washington state’s push for environmentally friendlier public buildings remain unclear, according to a legislative report. The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee’s High Performance Public Buildings report revealed they could not completely assess the program because state agencies and some school districts are failing to report information as required by law. Where a full year’s performance data was available by the reporting deadline, most high-performance buildings exceeded their estimated energy usage due to factors such as changes in design or equipment, difficulties in operating “new and complex energy technology,” greater than anticipated after-hours use of the buildings, and energy wasting by occupants such as covering vents. The committee recommended more time to measure performance and better agency compliance on submitting energy performance data.
City Auditor: Seattle legal and liability claims total nearly $75 million over four years
by Melissa Steffan July 1st, 2011
SUMMARY: A recent City of Seattle Auditor’s report found that over a four-year period, from 2007 to 2010, the City of Seattle spent nearly $30 million to settle lawsuits filed against it. This accounts for 39 percent of the total $74,767,406 spent by the City of Seattle to cover legal judgments and financial claims against it during that time. The annual total continues to trend downward from a recent high in 2008. The auditor’s report recommended several strategies including stronger leadership and employee involvement, a focus on root causes of financial risk, and regular collection and analysis of data.
FCC: philanthropy, non-profits, transparency key to fill local news gaps
by Matt Rosenberg June 9th, 2011
SUMMARY: A new report from the Federal Communications Commission warns of an overall national deficit in professional local news reporting focused on government accountability. In response, the report recommends a number of strategies. These include philanthropy by individuals and foundations – especially place-based civic foundations – which accents the importance of strong news ecosystems and healthy news nonprofits to healthy communities; plus more robust and systematic online transparency by local and state governments; and possible changes or clarifications to the U.S. tax code to encourage the financial sustainability of non-profit media.