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MBTAAnalysis: A look inside the MBTA
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The MBTA shuttles over a million passengers a day around Greater…


Survey: Consumers Want Healthcare Price Information, But Few Realize It’s Available
Great strides have been made to increase healthcare price transparency through online cost estimator tools and a state law that requires providers to give out price information. Yet despite the eagerness of consumers to access prices and out-of-pocket costs, many are unaware that such information is available and don’t know how to access it, according to survey results published by Pioneer Institute.

Healthcare Price Transparency in Massachusetts: Results from a survey of Massachusetts consumers regarding healthcare price transparency
In June 2019, Pioneer Institute, with support from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans, contracted with noted pollster David Paleologos, head of DAPA Research at Suffolk University’s Research Bureau, to conduct a valid and reliable survey of Massachusetts consumers with employer sponsored health insurance. The goals of the survey were to determine consumers’ awareness, attitudes, views, usage, and knowledge of healthcare prices. This white paper presents analysis of the results.

COVID-19 Transparency – A Step Backwards
Massachusetts has unfortunately taken the backwards step of ending its longstanding daily reporting of something basic and important: the virus’s cumulative impact on various age groups.

Executive branch overreach, blanket orders having harmful effects
At the outset of the pandemic, limited knowledge and the need to mitigate risk understandably led to political overreach. At this point in the disaster response, though, we are far better at distinguishing fact from fiction and policies that have worked from those that have not.

Study: Shift from Highest-Priced Healthcare Providers Would Generate Tremendous Savings
Consumers in just one Massachusetts county could have saved nearly $22 million in a single year and $116.6 million adjusted for inflation over four years if they switched from using the most expensive providers for 16 shoppable healthcare services to those whose prices were closer to average, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute.

New Pioneer Institute Hotline Allows Public to Report Violations of Open Meeting Law
With most public meetings taking place remotely as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pioneer Institute has unveiled an online hotline that allows members of the public to report potential violations of the Commonwealth’s and other states' Open Meeting Law.

National Study Finds Most States Lack Healthcare Price Transparency Laws
At a time when the coronavirus pandemic has caused massive shifts in state policies on telehealth and scope of practice in healthcare, a new Pioneer Institute study underscores that most of the 50 states continue to suffer from weak laws regarding price transparency. The study identified states that have laws that require carriers, providers or both to provide personalized cost information to consumers before obtaining healthcare services. Fully 33 states placed in the lowest of the three broad analytic tiers on the strength of their state healthcare transparency laws.

Pioneer Institute Relaunches “One-Stop Shop” for Education Performance Data
Pioneer Institute is re-launching a new and improved MassReportCards.org, a one-stop shop for information on Massachusetts public schools, including test performance, school finance, and much more. The new version of the site includes additional and updated data, and is more user friendly than the original. MassReportCards adds to Pioneer’s suite of online transparency tools, MassWatch.

New Video Highlights Need for Greater Access to Public Officials’ Financial Ties
With as new animated video, Pioneer Institute aims to inform the public about barriers to accessing Massachusetts elected officials’ financial information.

Pioneer Institute’s Government Transparency Resolutions 2020
As we do each January, Pioneer shares the resolutions it hopes state leaders will adopt to bring government actions into better focus and invigorate our democracy with heightened public engagement.

Survey: MA Least Transparent State at Making State Official Financial Disclosures Public
New rankings from Pioneer Institute show that among the states that require financial disclosures of elected officials and other significant policy makers, Massachusetts is the least transparent.

Time to Say “Cut” on Massachusetts’ Film Tax Credit?
State Senate President Karen Spilka is taking preliminary steps…

Prepare for Town Budget Season with MassWatch
Online tools to understand your community's financial condition…

A Primer on Secondary Revenue Sources for Local Governments
Using Pioneer Institute’s MassAnalysis tool, one can find information…

Coastal Towns Charge the Most Permit Fees Per Capita in Massachusetts
One of the ways local governments raise revenue is by requiring…

Pioneer Institute Celebrates Sunshine Week 2019
Sunshine Week is dedicated to bringing greater awareness to the…

Study Finds Massachusetts Lagging on Transparency of Public Official Statements of Financial Interest
A few simple changes would update system, improve transparency
Read…

The State Legislature Should Steer Clear of New Occupational Licensing Laws
The reach of occupational licensing laws has expanded greatly…

Guess What Massachusetts Public Employee Earns Over $1 Million
The State Comptroller’s Office makes available annual salary…

How Much Does Your Local Government Raise from Fines and Forfeitures?
One of the ways local governments raise revenue to fund public…

Stonewalled at City Hall
Pioneer Institute interns often visit government offices to obtain…

Making Troopers Transparent: At What Cost?
In May 2018, The Boston Globe reported on its effort to gain…

Report Recommends Alternatives to Drug Pricing Transparency Legislation
Value-based reimbursement, focus on middlemen in drug distribution…

Why Did the Department of Corrections Pay a Chef $166,762 last year?
Pioneer Institute’s MassOpenBooks transparency tool shows an…

Top 10 Government Transparency Resolutions for 2018
We hear the word transparency a lot these days. Whether it's…

Creating Space for Healthcare Innovators in the Marketplace
Pioneer Institute's initiatives in healthcare focus on three…

Auditing the New Transparency Law: Where are the Records Access Officers?
With the advent of the Baker administration, Massachusetts transparency…

Our Government Transparency Resolutions for 2017
Although transparency was the expression of choice on Beacon…

Fewer Employees, More Space: DCAMM’s Leasing Strategy
For most public and private entities, space is the second-largest…

Telemedicine: The Future of Healthcare
Telemedicine sounds a bit like science-fiction, but the practice…