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Transparency

Opportunity, Transportation
October 5, 2018

Commuter Rail Twitter Reveals History of Delays

An easy way to bond with fellow Bostonians is to complain about commuter rail. While it’s often regarded as unreliable, unexplainable, and unresponsive, a weakness in the transparency of MBTA performance data makes these claims no more than conjecture. True, the agency...
American Citizenship, Opportunity
May 10, 2018

Time to End MA State Legislature’s Exemption from Public Records Law

The purpose of transparency laws is to promote more effective, accountable and responsive government. Engaged citizens are essential for our form of government to thrive over the long-term. According to the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, “the founding fathers of our...
American Citizenship, Healthcare
April 18, 2018

MA Health Insurers Have Made Good Progress in Price Transparency, But Significant Work Remains

Read press coverage of this report in the Boston Business Journal and State House News Service. Tools are more user friendly and cover growing number of procedures, but still used by just a small fraction of potential market BOSTON – A Pioneer Institute...
American Citizenship, Opportunity, Pioneer Legal
April 4, 2018

Time to End Legislative Exemptions from Public Records & Open Meeting Laws

Under Massachusetts law, the state Legislature is not considered a “public body” in the traditional sense, and therefore enjoys exemptions from open meeting and public records laws. Pioneer Institute believes this is unconstitutional. The state constitution says the Legislature should be accountable to...
American Citizenship, Healthcare
March 15, 2017

Public Statement on the Recommendations of the Legislature’s Healthcare Provider Price Variation Commission

Commission Misses Great Opportunity to Advance Healthcare Price Transparency While most of the country is focused on national health care issues playing out in Washington, Massachusetts is in the midst of an extremely important debate with lasting effects on what Commonwealth residents...
Healthcare
February 21, 2016

National Survey Finds Limited Access To Price Estimates For Routine Hospital Procedure

Price for MRI of knee ranges from $400 to $4,544 BOSTON – A survey of 54 hospitals in six metropolitan areas across the United States reveals that consumers seeking a price estimate for a routine medical procedure face a difficult and frustrating...
American Citizenship, Opportunity, Transportation
July 14, 2015

No Fare! MBTA Tight on Public Records

The MBTA has been attracting a lot of attention lately on how they could save money.  But what about how the MBTA makes money? Pioneer wanted to look into fare collection practices on the commuter rail and revenue information during the MBTA’s...
American Citizenship, Healthcare
June 24, 2015

Survey: Price Information Difficult to Obtain From Massachusetts Hospitals

View media coverage of this report on WCVB-TV 5 Investigates: “Law to keep health care costs down fails to live up to promise,” The Boston Globe, “Hospitals failing to meet state law on price inquiries“, MassLive, “Price shopping cost of MRI at area hospitals?...
American Citizenship
April 23, 2015

Connaughton, Sivolella: Challenging the Legislature's Secrecy

By Mary Z. Connaughton and John Sivolella Guest Columnists This article originally appeard in the Milford Daily News. Read it in its entirety. Posted Apr. 19, 2015 at 7:13 AM There is a lot of justifiable talk about the need for government...
American Citizenship, Opportunity
March 19, 2015

Pioneer's Transparency Update: Sunshine Week Edition

To some, it may seem insignificant in that police departments have wide discretion in responding to public records requests, or that a school district can charge exorbitant fees to the public for document requests. Perhaps it doesn’t matter that state agencies routinely...