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Monthly Archives: April 2012

New GAO Reports: Border Security, Electronic Health Records, Group Purchasing Organizations, Medicare

  • Border Security Opportunities Exist to Ensure More Effective Use of DHS’s Air and Marine Assets, GAO-12-518, Mar 30, 2012
  • Electronic Health Records, First Year of CMS’s Incentive Programs Shows Opportunities to Improve Processes to Verify Providers Met Requirements, GAO-12-481, Apr 30, 2012
  • Group Purchasing Organizations – Federal Oversight and Self-Regulation, GAO-12-399R, Mar 30, 2012
  • Medicare – Implementation of Financial Incentive Programs under Federal Fraud and Abuse Laws, GAO-12-355, Mar 30, 2012
  • Prescription Drugs – FDA Has Met Most Performance Goals for Reviewing Applications, GAO-12-500, Mar 30, 2012

Research by CFA and Unum shows workers know little about disability insurance, despite expecting financial hardship if unable to work

“In a national survey of nearly 1,200 employees, the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) and Unum learned that workers know little about group disability insurance, even important characteristics of what coverage they may have. But when given information about this financial protection benefit, nine out of 10 employees say they want this coverage and would… Continue Reading

Census Reports Public Pension Assets Increase More Than $257 Billion for State and Local Public-Employee Retirement Systems in 2010

“The nation’s state and local public-employee retirement systems had $2.7 trillion in total cash and investment holdings in 2010, a $257.2 billion or 10.6 percent increase from $2.4 trillion in 2009, according to new statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau. This follows a $722.2 billion loss the previous year. These statistics come from the 2010… Continue Reading

Census – USA Counties

“These files contain demographic, economic and governmental statistics from the Census Bureau and other federal agencies, presented for the purpose of multi-county comparisons or single county profiles. National- and state-level statistics are presented as well. The files cover topics such as agriculture, crime, education, health, retail trade and vital statistics. New in this update are… Continue Reading

World of Work Report 2012

“The World of Work Report 2012 provides a comprehensive analysis of recent labour market and social trends, assesses risks of social unrest and presents employment projections for the next five years. The report emphasizes that while employment has begun to recover slowly, job quality is deteriorating and there is a growing sense of unfairness. Moreover,… Continue Reading

Briefing Paper on Embedding Creative Commons Licences into Digital Resources

Briefing Paper on Embedding Creative Commons Licences into Digital Resources – Naomi Korn, Strategic Content Alliance IPR Consultant, March 2011 “Creative Commons licences (also referred to as CC licences) can facilitate the copying, reuse, distribution, and in some cases, the modification of the original owner’s creative work without needing to get permission each time from… Continue Reading

Dry, Warm Spring No Help for Southern Drought

NOAA: “Since late 2010, much of the southernmost United States has been suffering through drought. When conditions reached their peak last summer, the resulting impacts were devastating, shrinking water supplies for cattle and crops, and contributing to huge agricultural losses. This spring, drought continues to plague large portions of the South. The U.S. Drought Monitor… Continue Reading

Harvard Faculty Advisory Council Memorandum on Journal Pricing

“We write to communicate an untenable situation facing the Harvard Library. Many large journal publishers have made the scholarly communication environment fiscally unsustainable and academically restrictive. This situation is exacerbated by efforts of certain publishers (called “providers”) to acquire, bundle, and increase the pricing on journals. Harvard’s annual cost for journals from these providers now… Continue Reading

Royal Society calls for a more equitable future for humanity

“Consumption levels between developed and developing nations must be rebalanced alongside a stabilisation of the world’s population by voluntary methods, according to a new report from the Royal Society. The most developed and the emerging economies must stabilise consumption levels, then reduce them, to help the poorest 1.3 billion people to escape absolute poverty through… Continue Reading

New on LLRX – Opening Government: On the Limits of FOIA and the Metaphor of Transparency

Via LLRX.com – Opening Government: On the Limits of FOIA and the Metaphor of Transparency – Professor Annmarie Bridy discusses the use of “transparency” as a metaphor for openness in government, the use of FOIA as a mechanism for ensuring such openness, and the ways in which proponents of greater public involvement in policy-making may… Continue Reading