transparency

Once seen as a city upon a hill, Massachusetts, the first state with a public viewing gallery for its Legislature faces persistent concerns about lack of government transparency. Data on Statements of Financial Interest (SFIs) from US DataLabs highlights those concerns and emphasizes the need for accountability. 

While Massachusetts may be known for having the worst drivers in the country, this judgment might unfairly punish drivers for a factor beyond their control—the quality of the roads and bridges they drive on. According to US Data Labs, Massachusetts has fallen behind the national average in both road and bridge quality over the past 15-25 years.

Review of Becker’s List of Health Systems with Strong Finances finds  more transparency needed in hospitals that receive federal aid to improve access to care. (Boston, Mass) – Pioneer Institute of Public Policy Research today released a paper that found that higher...

Some towns in NW Massachusetts spend significantly more per capita than their neighbors, without using methods such as large state funding, deficit spending, and high taxes. These towns gain significant portions of their revenue from industry tax levies.

Partly Sunny with a Chance of Transparency As Pioneer Institute observes  Sunshine Week , March 10-16, it is worth remembering the uncommon courage it took for our founders to so publicly and transparently declare their political beliefs and loyalties at a time when Great Britain...

Revenue collections, predicted revenue, and expenditures are among the most important data points states report. Without accurate predictions and regular reporting, the legislature and governor's office may go over or under budget, potentially leaving citizens and policymakers in the dark about the fiscal health of the state. For this reason, all states regularly report those numbers and update estimates based on trends, overall economic conditions, and expected changes as a result of new state policies. However, even among the New England states, the transparency and accessibility of such reporting varies greatly and, as a result, limits analysts’ ability to meaningfully compare state revenues and judge performance in real time.

Pioneer Institute's new tool, the Massachusetts Hospital Relative Price Tracker, displays relative price and facilitates relative price comparisons among hospitals. The average price among all hospitals will have a relative price of 1.0. A relative price of 1.5 means that a hospital charges 50 percent higher than the average of all Massachusetts hospitals. Similarly, a relative price of 0.84 means that a hospital’s prices are 16 percent below average. Relative price data is collected and reported by the Commonwealth’s Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA) and is an aggregate measure used to evaluate price variations among different hospitals. It is recalculated annually based on data collected from commercial payers and includes information on private commercial insurance and commercially managed public insurance products such as Medicare Advantage and Medicaid Managed Organizations/Accountable Care Partnership Plans.

The new MBTA Retirement Fund Actuarial Valuation Report shows the fund is only about 51 percent funded. In 2006, it was 94 percent funded. A “death spiral” generally accelerates when retirement system funding dips below 50 percent.

Pioneer Institute commends Governor-elect Maura Healey for choosing not to claim a public records exemption for the governor’s office. Governor-elect Healey also pledged to support legislation that would curb exemptions claimed by the legislative and judiciary branches of state government.

Many states have made promoted government efficiency and effectiveness by setting goals and tracking their progress. Massachusetts tried making a performance structure, but in 2014 it was discontinued. Today, the state lacks a comprehensive structure to track progress.