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Daily Archives: December 22, 2010

Health Advocacy Group Report: One mother's activism has led to more transparency in hospital disclosures to the public

California HealthCare Foundation Center for Health Reporting, an independent organization devoted to reporting on California health care issues reporting: “After Carole Moss’s 15-year-old son died from an infection in 2006 in an Orange County hospital, she launched a one-woman crusade to force hospitals throughout California to reveal how many of their patients contract serious infections. “People are dying, and we’re being kept in the dark,” became her mantra as she marched the hallways of Sacramento to push a 2008 public disclosure law called “Nile’s Law,” after her dead son. She won. As of Jan. 3, for the first time, California health consumers will gain the power to click on a state website and scrutinize the infection rates of their local hospitals—rates that Moss believes she should have been told about before taking her son for treatment.” [Dan Mitchel]

  • Consumers Union – Cutting Surgical Infections: “This site is designed to help you see how well your hospital, state and the nation as a whole are performing on three key practices that help prevent infections during surgery. Click here for Consumers Union’s analysis of this information. Data is from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Hospital Compare web site.”
  • BJS – Correctional Populations in the United States, 2009

    “The number of adults under correctional supervision in the United States declined by less than one percent during 2009, dropping to 7,225,800 (or 48,800 fewer offenders than at yearend 2008), the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced today. This was the first measured decline in the total number of adults under correctional supervision since BJS… Continue Reading

    New GAO Reports: Medicare, Long-Term Care Hospitals, Missile Defense

    Medicare: CMS Needs to Collect Consistent Information from Quality Improvement Organizations to Strengthen Its Establishment of Budgets for Quality of Care Reviews, GAO-11-116R, December 06, 2010 Long-Term Care Hospitals: Differences in Their Oversight Compared to Other Types of Hospitals and Nursing Homes, GAO-11-130R, November 30, 2010 Missile Defense: European Phased Adaptive Approach Acquisitions Face Synchronization,… Continue Reading

    BIS: Capitalisation of bank exposures to central counterparties – consultative document

    Capitalisation of bank exposures to central counterparties – consultative document, December 2010 “The Basel Committee issued today a consultative paper on the Capitalisation of bank exposures to central counterparties. These proposals relate to the capitalisation of bank exposures to a central counterparty – CCP – and, in particular, default fund exposures. Generally speaking, the Committee… Continue Reading

    Gallup: U.S. Internet Users Ready to Limit Online Tracking for Ads

    Follow up to FTC Staff Issues Privacy Report Offers Framework for Consumers, Businesses, and Policymakers, this news from Gallup: “U.S. Internet users would likely welcome a “Do Not Track” measure like the one the Federal Trade Commission is currently considering to keep advertisers from tracking their movements online. Gallup finds Internet users largely aware that… Continue Reading

    BIS: Measurement of perceived and expected inflation on the basis of consumer survey data

    Measurement of perceived and expected inflation on the basis of consumer survey data, by Tomasz Łyziak, National Bank of Poland, December 2010, IFC Working Papers No 5, Bank for International Settlements “This paper discusses measurement techniques used in the literature to quantify inflation perception and expectations on the basis of qualitative survey data. Description of… Continue Reading

    Report: Distributed Denial of Service Attacks Against Independent Media and Human Rights Sites

    The Berkman Center for Internet & Society is pleased to share a new report, Distributed Denial of Service Attacks Against Independent Media and Human Rights Sites by Ethan Zuckerman, Hal Roberts, Ryan McGrady, Jillian York, John Palfrey “Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) is an increasingly common Internet phenomenon capable of silencing Internet speech, usually for… Continue Reading