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Massachusetts’ Workforce Growing Older and More Diverse, Remains Highly EducatedApril 18, 2024 - 9:26 am
Johns Hopkins’ Ashley Berner on Educational Pluralism & DemocracyApril 17, 2024 - 2:53 pm
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Proven reforms for urban students
/2 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Education, Blog: School Choice, Jim Stergios, News, Related Education Blogs /byThere are no silver bullets. In education, our landmark 1993 education reform act was testimony to that dictum, laying out a blueprint based on high academic standards, accountability for teachers and districts, testing for students, and innovation through charter schools. That said, there are those who believe in complicated processes and those who are more decentralizing in how they think about reform. Count me among the latter–and that’s why I have always found parental choice, tying money to the child not the system, and clear rules about school flexibility and accountability interesting. Each of these principles helps create the conditions and incentives for engaging parents, which I think is a crucial pressure point (and frankly the more they are engaged, […]
Gilded benefits clash with ‘fair share’
/0 Comments/in Blog, Healthcare, News /byPublic employee unions leaders love to talk about “fair share” when they are trying to score even sweeter contracts than the ones they enjoy now. It is the classic class envy diversion – it can’t be fair if anybody out there is making more than they are. If the idle rich just paid their fair share in taxes, then there would be plenty of money for government to pay their hard-working members bigger raises and provide even better benefits. It doesn’t seem to occur to them that most rich people got that way by working hard. But that is a topic for another post. What is interesting here is that in the long-overdue focus on public employee health benefits, you […]
A way to bend the cost curve up
/2 Comments/in Better Government, Blog, Healthcare /byMinimum staffing provisions in public sector union contracts – largely in police and fire departments – are a major reasons those services are so expensive. They lead to massive, unnecessary overtime costs and are easily abused – it is simple for a worker to call in sick so a friend can pick up some extra OT. It also turns the proper relationship of manager and worker on its head – employees, not management, dictate how many people are required to do a task. The union, naturally, wants as many people as possible on a task, a vehicle, a shift. It undermines efficiency and productivity, by design. Gov. Deval Patrick and state legislators, who huff and puff about “bending the cost […]
Health Care Econ-101 For Governor
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Healthcare, Healthcare /byDuring an appearance on WTKK-FM today, Governor Patrick dipped his toe into the uncompensated care pool controversy that has been splashed over the pages of The Boston Herald. Here and here. Some highlights (lowlights) from the Inspector General’s report that sparked the stories have been: $7 million on care for non-Massachusetts residents. Claims were paid out for patients with home addresses in 48 other states, and a handful of foreign countries. $17.8 million for more than 60,000 “medically unlikely” or “medically unnecessary” claims, such as foot X-ray charges for patients suffering from headaches. Suspicious claims for gender-specific procedures for members of the opposite gender. (Such as gynecological bills for men) $6 million for 13,000 duplicate claims. 45% of those seeking […]
CMS Ignites ACO (Accountable Care Organizations) Debate
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Healthcare, Healthcare /byToday the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released long awaited proposed regulations for accountable care organizations (ACOs). Under the federal Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), ACOs– which are associations made up of groups of health care providers—can share Medicare savings derived from improvements in care. In CMS administrator Don Berwick’s own words: The creation of ACOs is one of the first delivery-reform initiatives that will be implemented under the ACA [the national Affordable Care Act]. Its purpose is to foster change in patient care so as to accelerate progress toward a three-part aim: better care for individuals, better health for populations, and slower growth in costs through improvements in care. Under the law, an ACO will assume responsibility for […]