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Daily Archives: November 28, 2012

HHS OIG – Early Assessment Finds CMS Faces Obstacles in Overseeing Medicare EHR Incentive Program

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HHS OIG – Early Assessment Finds CMS Faces Obstacles in Overseeing the Medicare EHR Incentive Program. Daniel R. Levinson Inspector General November 2012

  • “This study is an early assessment of CMS’s oversight of the Medicare electronic health record (EHR) incentive program, for which CMS estimates it will pay $6.6 billion in incentive payments between 2011 and 2016. Because professionals and hospitals self report data to demonstrate that they meet program requirements, CMS’s efforts to verify these data will help ensure the integrity of Medicare EHR incentive payments…CMS faces obstacles to overseeing the Medicare EHR incentive program that leave the
    program vulnerable to paying incentives to professionals and hospitals that do not fully meet the meaningful use requirements. Currently, CMS has not implemented strong prepayment safeguards, and its ability to safeguard incentive payments postpayment is also limited. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) requirements for EHR reports may contribute to CMS’s oversight obstacles.”

    • New GAO Reports – Combating Nuclear Smuggling, Coal-Fueled Generation, Health Care Fraud

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    Combating Nuclear Smuggling – Megaports Initiative Faces Funding and Sustainability Challenges, GAO-13-37, Oct 31, 2012 Electricity – Significant Changes Are Expected in Coal-Fueled Generation, but Coal is Likely to Remain a Key Fuel Source, GAO-13-72, Oct 29, 2012 Health Care Fraud – Types of Providers Involved in Medicare Cases, and CMS Efforts to Reduce Fraud,… Continue Reading

    Pew – The changing world of libraries

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    The changing world of libraries, Lee Rainie, November 28, 2012. “Nine takeaways for librarians: E-reading is taking off because e-reading gadgets are taking off The gadget doesn’t make the reader, but it may change the reader E-book readers are reading omnivores (and probably influencers) E-book readers are not platform snobs AND they like different platforms… Continue Reading

    Losing Ground: Housing and transportation costs outpacing incomes

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    “The combined costs of housing and transportation in the nation’s largest 25 metro areas have swelled by 44 percent since 2000 while incomes have failed to keep pace, according to a new report from the Center for Housing Policy—the research affiliate of the National Housing Conference—and the Center for Neighborhood Technology. The report, Losing Ground:… Continue Reading

    Federal Reserve Beige Book, November 2012

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    Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions By Federal Reserve District, November 2012 “Economic activity expanded at a measured pace in recent weeks, according to reports from contacts in the twelve Federal Reserve Districts. Cleveland, Richmond, Atlanta, Chicago, Kansas City, Dallas, and San Francisco grew at a modest pace, while St. Louis and Minneapolis indicated… Continue Reading

    Judge Orders Tobacco Companies to Publish Statements on Dangers of Smoking

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    CNN: “Tobacco companies have been ordered by a federal judge to publicly admit, through advertisements and package warnings, that they deceived American consumers for decades about the dangers of smoking. Federal Judge Gladys Kessler issued her ruling [U.S. v. Philip Morris (99-cv-2496)] Tuesday in one of the last legal steps settling liability in the long-running… Continue Reading

    Aging, Financial Literacy, and Fraud

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    Gamble, Keith Jacks, Boyle, Patricia, Yu, Lei and Bennett, David, Aging, Financial Literacy, and Fraud (October 22, 2012). Available at SSRN. “We use a unique dataset to examine the financial literacy of older Americans and its importance for their financial decision making. The aging of the population and the shift to individual retirement accounts make… Continue Reading

    Survey – Americans believe higher education must innovate

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    “Although a majority of Amer­i­cans believes higher edu­ca­tion remains crit­ical to the nation’s com­pet­i­tive­ness and the best way for indi­vid­uals to achieve the Amer­ican Dream, 83 per­cent say that higher edu­ca­tion must inno­vate for the United States to main­tain its global lead­er­ship, according to a new North­eastern Uni­ver­sity survey. The national opinion poll, con­ducted for… Continue Reading

    Decrease in Overall Debt Balance Continues Despite Rise in Non-Real Estate Debt

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    “In its latest Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced that in the third quarter, non-real estate household debt jumped 2.3 percent to $2.7 trillion. The increase was due to a boost in student loans ($42 billion), auto loans ($18 billion) and credit card balances ($2 billion).… Continue Reading