Christie Dickson's SAVE Award Story

Christie Dickson
December 17, 2009
04:25 PM EDT

SSA's Christie DicksonI first found out about the President’s SAVE Award through an email which was circulated throughout the Social Security Administration (SSA) encouraging employees to submit their ideas for participation in the President's SAVE Award. I felt that there would be so much competition and so many great ideas that would save taxpayers money and allow the Federal Government to function better, that any idea that I could think of would probably be like a needle in a haystack.

I debated as to whether or not I should submit anything.

On the final day (the contest submission deadline), I gathered my courage and jumped into the race.  Once I submitted my idea of allowing online scheduling of Social Security appointments, I said to myself, "It’s done and now I can continue with business-as-usual.” Very little did I know that my idea would be selected as one of the four finalists.

Becoming a finalist among more than 38,000 candidates is one of the greatest accomplishments in both my career and my life.  I received tremendous support from my family, church, friends and co-workers.

I knew that my family, church and friends would support me but when I received countless congratulations and other positive and motivations emails and recognition, my excitement grew overwhelmingly. Just the opportunity to go from being a regular Federal worker with simple ideas to almost making it to the White House with those ideas was amazing. I received so much positive feedback from co-workers and the general public in regards to the idea that I really do hope it’s taken into consideration to be implemented.

I think that this contest was a great opportunity for government officials and executives to see that the frontline workers can contribute in making the workplace a better environment for the citizens and more cost effective for the taxpayers. Getting ideas for improving the agencies from the workers who actually deal with and go through the processes on a daily basis was ingenious. It's an excellent way to improve government agencies by making the best use of time and money.

Although I may not have made it to the White House, I will always remember the experience of trying to get there and the support that everyone gave to me.  I am looking forward to other opportunities like this in the future.

Christie Dickson works for the Social Security Administration in Birmingham, AL

Related Topics: Fiscal Responsibility, Alabama
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Voting Ends Tomorrow for SAVE Award!

Posted by Peter Orszag on December 09, 2009 at 12:08 PM EDT

As many of you know, earlier this year President Obama launched the SAVE Award — a program that offered every Federal employee the chance to submit ideas about how government can save money and perform better. Over the course of three weeks, Federal employees submitted more than 38,000 ideas. Staff at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) assessed the submissions and narrowed them down to the final four ideas.

Voting began on Monday and will only remain open until 11:59pm tomorrow. Already, we’ve received over 65,000 votes – so don’t miss out on your opportunity to help choose the winner. The person whose idea is voted the best will get to meet the President, present the winning idea directly to him, and have that idea included in the FY2011 Budget.

You can vote on the ideas by rating each idea on a scale of 1 through 5, with 5 being the highest rating you can give. (You may vote on each idea only once. If you re-vote for an award, your previous vote will be overwritten.)

Click here to start voting.

If you haven’t seen it yet, you can watch the President annouce the four finalists.

Peter Orszag is the director of the Office of Management and Budget

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Voting Now Open for the President's SAVE Award

Posted by Peter Orszag on December 07, 2009 at 06:00 AM EDT

At the end of September, the Office of Management and Budget launched the President’s SAVE Award - a contest for Federal employees to come up with the best idea to save taxpayer dollars and make the government perform more effectively and efficiently.

The response was amazing. In just three weeks, we received 38,484 entries from Federal employees all across the country. The ideas ran the gamut from the commonsensical to the complex. OMB staff assessed the ideas, passing back the best ones to agencies to include in their submissions for the FY2011 Budget. And the suggestions that were in need of government-wide action stayed here at OMB for our staff to begin working on. Over the coming months, we hope to implement many of these excellent ideas.

We need your help choosing a winner. Watch the President's video and go vote for your favorite ideas:

Download Video: mp4 (39MB) | mp3 (2MB)

The winner will be able to present their idea to the President in person, and will have that idea included in the FY2011 Budget.

Now more than ever, it’s time to fix or end government programs that don’t work and waste Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars. The SAVE Award is just one step we’re taking to bring new thinking into how your government is run and to instill a new of responsibility for every dollar that is spent.

Peter Orszag is the director of the Office of Management and Budget

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CBPP: Savings Will Stick

Peter Orszag
Peter Orszag
December 04, 2009
03:42 PM EDT

Cross-posted from the OMB blog.

One of the criticisms leveled by skeptics of health insurance reform is that the hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicare savings being proposed won’t actually be implemented since efforts to cut waste never stick. "Congress is notorious for passing Medicare savings, and then after the cuts take place and the political groups get activated, we restore all the money," one Republican congressman told the Wall Street Journal last month.

A new report by two former CBO officials – James Horney and Paul Van de Water – now working at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities shows that this criticism is, in their words, a "mistaken belief."

"Virtually all of the Medicare cuts enacted in 1990 and 1993, which accounted for a significant portion of the savings in those large deficit-reduction packages, were implemented," they wrote. "And most of the savings enacted in 1997 other than the SGR cuts – nearly four-fifths [emphasis theirs] – were implemented as well."
 
The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 was a huge success. So much so that over time, one-fifth of the cuts from that year’s deficit-reduction legislation (other than the SGR cuts) was restored. But as Horney and Van de Water point out, this was done because Medicare spending slowed dramatically from an average rate of about 10 percent per year in the previous decade to an actual reduction in the year-to-year rate from 1998 to 1999. Also, the federal budget was in surplus from 1998 to 2001; in this environment, Congress chose to ease some of the cuts. Needless to say, after the past eight years and the economic crisis, we are unlikely to be so fortunate.
 
Moreover, with PAYGO policies in effect any rollback of the cuts would have to be balanced with another offset. This will be a powerful incentive for Congress not to tinker with the savings package.

Finally, the authors point out the inherent flaws with the SGR provisions in the 1997 legislation that led the President and Congress to prevent the measure from taking effect over the past seven years. Fundamentally, the blunt cut in physician reimbursement rates was just that – done without any of the systemic reforms needed to actually bring down the cost of health care. In contrast, Horney and Van de Water write "the Medicare provisions in the health reform bills seem well designed to accomplish their assigned tasks and are not based on crude formulas likely to result in unanticipated, unacceptably large cuts."

The rest of the report details the other key elements of fiscally-responsible health reform – all contained in the bills under debate. Check it out; it’s worth the read.

Peter Orszag is Director of the Office of Management and Budget

Related Topics: Fiscal Responsibility, Health Care

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
November 23, 2009

Executive Order 13520-- Reducing Improper Payments and Eliminating Waste in Federal Programs

EXECUTIVE ORDER

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in the interest of reducing payment errors and eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in Federal programs, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Purpose. When the Federal Government makes payments to individuals and businesses as program beneficiaries, grantees, or contractors, or on behalf of program beneficiaries, it must make every effort to confirm that the right recipient is receiving the right payment for the right reason at the right time. The purpose of this order is to reduce improper payments by intensifying efforts to eliminate payment error, waste, fraud, and abuse in the major programs administered by the Federal Government, while continuing to ensure that Federal programs serve and provide access to their intended beneficiaries. No single step will fully achieve these goals. Therefore, this order adopts a comprehensive set of policies, including transparency and public scrutiny of significant payment errors throughout the Federal Government; a focus on identifying and eliminating the highest improper payments; accountability for reducing improper payments among executive branch agencies and officials; and coordinated Federal, State, and local government action in identifying and eliminating improper payments. Because this order targets error, waste, fraud, and abuse -- not legitimate use of Government services -- efforts to reduce improper payments under this order must protect access to Federal programs by their intended beneficiaries.

Sec. 2. Transparency and Public Participation.

(a) Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) shall:

(i) identify Federal programs in which the highest dollar value or majority of Government-wide improper payments occur (high-priority programs);
(ii) establish, in coordination with the executive department or agency (agency) responsible for administering the high-priority program annual or semi-annual targets (or where such targets already exist, supplemental targets), as appropriate, for reducing improper payments associated with each high-priority program;
(iii) issue Government-wide guidance on the implementation of this order, including procedures for identifying and publicizing the list of entities described in subsection (b)(v) of this section and for administrative appeal of the decision to publish the identity of those entities, prior to publication; and
(iv) establish a working group consisting of Federal, State, and local officials to make recommendations to the Director of OMB designed to improve the Federal Government's measurement of access to Federal programs by the programs' intended beneficiaries. The working group's recommendations shall be prepared in consultation with the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) and submitted within 180 days of the date of this order, and the recommended measurements may be incorporated by the Secretary of the Treasury in the information published pursuant to subsection (b) of this section.

(b) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of the Treasury in coordination with the Attorney General and the Director of OMB, shall publish on the Internet information about improper payments under high-priority programs. The information shall include, subject to Federal privacy policies and to the extent permitted by law:

(i) the names of the accountable officials designated under section 3 of this order;
(ii) current and historical rates and amounts of improper payments, including, where known and appropriate, causes of the improper payments;
(iii) current and historical rates and amounts of recovery of improper payments, where appropriate (or, where improper payments are identified solely on the basis of a sample, recovery rates and amounts estimated on the basis of the applicable sample);
(iv) targets for reducing as well as recovering improper payments, where appropriate; and
(v) the entities that have received the greatest amount of outstanding improper payments (or, where improper payments are identified solely on the basis of a sample, the entities that have received the greatest amount of outstanding improper payments in the applicable sample).

Information on entities that have received the greatest amount of outstanding improper payments shall not include any referrals the agency made or anticipates making to the Department of Justice, or any information provided in connection with such referrals.

(c) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of the Treasury in coordination with the Attorney General and the Director of OMB and in consultation with the CIGIE, shall establish a central Internet-based method to collect from the public information concerning suspected incidents of waste, fraud, and abuse by an entity receiving Federal funds that have led or may lead to improper payments by the Federal Government.
(d) Agencies shall place a prominently displayed link to Internet-based resources for addressing improper payments, including the resources established under subsections (b) and (c) of this section, on their Internet home pages.

Sec. 3. Agency Accountability and Coordination.

(a) Within 120 days of the date of this order, the head of each agency responsible for operating a high-priority program shall designate an official who holds an existing Senate-confirmed position to be accountable for meeting the targets established under section 2 of this order without unduly burdening program access and participation by eligible beneficiaries. In those agencies where the majority of payments are isolated to a single component, the head of the agency shall name a second accountable official for that component whose sole responsibility would be for program integrity activities and, as appropriate, shall consolidate and coordinate all program integrity activities within the component.

(b) Within 180 days of the date of this order, each agency official designated under subsection (a) of this section, or otherwise designated by the Director of OMB, shall provide the agency's Inspector General a report containing:

(i) the agency's methodology for identifying and measuring improper payments by the agency's high-priority programs;
(ii) the agency's plans, together with supporting analysis, for meeting the reduction targets for improper payments in the agency's high-priority programs; and
(iii) the agency's plan, together with supporting analysis, for ensuring that initiatives undertaken pursuant to this order do not unduly burden program access and participation by eligible beneficiaries.

Following the receipt and review of this information, the agency Inspector General shall assess the level of risk associated with the applicable programs, determine the extent of oversight warranted, and provide the agency head with recommendations, if any, for modifying the agency's methodology, improper payment reduction plans, or program access and participation plans.

(c) If an agency fails to meet the targets established under section 2 of this order or implement the plan described in subsection (b)(iii) of this section for 2 consecutive years, that agency's accountable official designated under subsection (a) of this section shall submit to the agency head, Inspector General, and Chief Financial Officer a report describing the likely causes of the agency's failure and proposing a remedial plan. The agency head shall review this plan and, in consultation with the Inspector General and Chief Financial Officer, forward the plan with any additional comments and analysis to the Director of OMB.

(d) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the Chief Financial Officers Council (CFOC) in consultation with the CIGIE, the Department of Justice, and program experts, shall make recommendations to the Director of OMB and the Secretary of the Treasury on actions (including actions related to forensic accounting and audits) agencies should take to more effectively tailor their methodologies for identifying and measuring improper payments to those programs, or components of programs, where improper payments are most likely to occur. Recommendations shall address the manner in which the recommended actions would affect program access and participation by eligible beneficiaries.

(e) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of the Treasury and the Director of OMB in consultation with the CIGIE, the Department of Justice, and program experts, shall recommend to the President actions designed to reduce improper payments by improving information sharing among agencies and programs, and where applicable, State and local governments and other stakeholders. The recommendations shall address the ways in which information sharing may improve eligibility verification and pre-payment scrutiny, shall identify legal or regulatory impediments to effective information sharing, and shall address the manner in which the recommended actions would affect program access and participation by eligible beneficiaries.

(f) Within 180 days of the date of this order, and at least once every quarter thereafter, the head of each agency shall submit to the agency's Inspector General and the CIGIE, and make available to the public, a report on any high-dollar improper payments identified by the agency, subject to Federal privacy policies and to the extent permitted by law. The report shall describe any actions the agency has taken or plans to take to recover improper payments, as well as any actions the agency intends to take to prevent improper payments from occurring in the future. The report shall not include any referrals the agency made or anticipates making to the Department of Justice, or any information provided in connection with such referrals. Following the review of each report, the agency Inspector General and the CIGIE shall assess the level of risk associated with the applicable program, determine the extent of oversight warranted, and provide the agency head with recommendations, if any, for modifying the agency's plans.

Sec. 4. Enhanced Focus on Contractors and Working with State and Local Stakeholders.

(a) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council, in coordination with the Director of OMB, and in consultation with the National Procurement Fraud Task Force (or its successor group), the CIGIE, and appropriate agency officials, shall recommend to the President actions designed to enhance contractor accountability for improper payments. The recommendations may include, but are not limited to, subjecting contractors to debarment, suspension, financial penalties, and identification through a public Internet website, subject to Federal privacy policies and to the extent permitted by law and where the identification would not interfere with or compromise an ongoing criminal or civil investigation, for knowingly failing timely to disclose credible evidence of significant overpayments received on Government contracts.

(b) Within 30 days of the date of this order, the Director of OMB shall establish a working group consisting of Federal and elected State and local officials to make recommendations to the Director of OMB designed to improve the effectiveness of single audits of State and local governments and non-profit organizations that are expending Federal funds. The Director of OMB may designate an appropriate official to serve as Chair of the working group to convene its meetings and direct its work. The working group's recommendations shall be prepared in consultation with the CIGIE and submitted within 180 days of the date of this order. The recommendations shall address, among other things, the effectiveness of single audits in identifying improper payments and opportunities to streamline or eliminate single audit requirements where their value is minimal.

(c) Within 30 days of the date of this order, the Director of OMB shall establish a working group (which may be separate from the group established under subsection (b) of this section) consisting of Federal and elected State and local officials to make recommendations to the Director of OMB for administrative actions designed to improve the incentives and accountability of State and local governments, as well as other entities receiving Federal funds, for reducing improper payments. The Director of OMB may designate an appropriate official to serve as Chair of the working group to convene its meetings and direct its work. The working group's recommendations shall be prepared in consultation with the CIGIE and submitted within 180 days of the date of this order.

Sec. 5. Policy Proposals. The Director of OMB, in consultation with the appropriate agencies and the CIGIE, shall develop policy recommendations, including potential legislative proposals, designed to reduce improper payments, including those caused by error, waste, fraud, and abuse, across Federal programs without compromising program access, to be included, as appropriate, in the Budget of the United States Government for Fiscal Year 2011 and future years, or other Administration proposals.

Sec. 6. General Provisions.

(a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) authority granted by law to a department, agency, the head thereof, or any agency Inspector General; or
(ii) functions of the Director of OMB relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) Nothing in this order shall be construed to require the disclosure of classified information, law enforcement sensitive information, or other information that must be protected in the interests of national security.

(c) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(d) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity, by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

BARACK OBAMA

THE WHITE HOUSE,
November 20, 2009.
 

Health Insurance Reform vs. Medicare Part D

Dan Pfeiffer
Dan Pfeiffer
November 21, 2009
04:08 PM EDT

Opponents of health insurance reform have spent hours on the Senate floor today attacking the Senate's efforts to provide stability and security for those with insurance, affordable coverage for those without, and lower costs for families, small businesses and the government. To provide a little perspective on these attacks, let’s compare today's legislation with the 2003 Medicare Part D effort, which many of these same critics supported:

 
Senate Health Reform
Medicare Part D
Effect on the Deficits over First 10 years
Decreased by $130 billion
Increased by $395 billion
Cost from 2010-2019
$848 billion
$600 billion
Length
2,074 pages
1,044 pages

Related Topics: Fiscal Responsibility, Health Care

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
November 17, 2009

Executive Order 13519 - Establishment of the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to strengthen the efforts of the Department of Justice, in conjunction with Federal, State, tribal, territorial, and local agencies, to investigate and prosecute significant
financial crimes and other violations relating to the current financial crisis and economic recovery efforts, recover the proceeds of such crimes and violations, and ensure just and effective punishment of those who perpetrate financial crimes and violations, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Establishment. There is hereby established an interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force (Task Force)led by the Department of Justice.

Sec. 2. Membership and Operation. The Task Force shall be chaired by the Attorney General and consist of senior-level officials from the following departments, agencies, and offices, selected by the heads of the respective departments, agencies, and offices in consultation with the Attorney General:

(a) the Department of Justice;
(b) the Department of the Treasury;
(c) the Department of Commerce;
(d) the Department of Labor;
(e) the Department of Housing and Urban Development;
(f) the Department of Education;
(g) the Department of Homeland Security;
(h) the Securities and Exchange Commission;
(i) the Commodity Futures Trading Commission;
(j) the Federal Trade Commission;
(k) the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation;
(l) the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System;
(m) the Federal Housing Finance Agency;
(n) the Office of Thrift Supervision;
(o) the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency;
(p) the Small Business Administration;
(q) the Federal Bureau of Investigation;
(r) the Social Security Administration;
(s) the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations;
(t) the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network;
(u) the United States Postal Inspection Service;
(v) the United States Secret Service;
(w) the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement;
(x) relevant Offices of Inspectors General and related Federal entities, including without limitation the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, and the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program; and
(y) such other executive branch departments, agencies, or offices as the President may, from time to time, designate or that the Attorney General may invite.

The Attorney General shall convene and, through the Deputy Attorney General, direct the work of the Task Force in fulfilling all its functions under this order. The Attorney General shall convene the first meeting of the Task Force within 30 days of the date of this order and shall thereafter convene the Task Force at such times as he deems appropriate. At the direction of the Attorney General, the Task Force may establish subgroups consisting exclusively of Task Force members or their designees under this section, including but not limited to a Steering Committee chaired by the Deputy Attorney General, and subcommittees addressing enforcement efforts, training and information sharing, and victims' rights, as the Attorney General deems appropriate.

Sec. 3. Mission and Functions. Consistent with the authorities assigned to the Attorney General by law, and other applicable law, the Task Force shall:

(a) provide advice to the Attorney General for the investigation and prosecution of cases of bank, mortgage, loan, and lending fraud; securities and commodities fraud; retirement plan fraud; mail and wire fraud; tax crimes; money laundering; False Claims Act violations; unfair competition; discrimination; and other financial crimes and violations (hereinafter financial crimes and violations), when such cases are determined by the Attorney General, for purposes of this order, to be significant;

(b) make recommendations to the Attorney General, from time to time, for action to enhance cooperation among Federal, State, local, tribal, and territorial authorities responsible for the investigation and prosecution of significant financial crimes and violations; and

(c) coordinate law enforcement operations with representatives of State, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement.

Sec. 4. Coordination with State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Law Enforcement. Consistent with the objectives set out in this order, and to the extent permitted by law, the Attorney General is encouraged to invite the following representatives of State, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement to participate in the Task Force's subcommittee addressing enforcement efforts in the subcommittee's performance of the functions set forth in section 3(c) of this order relating to the coordination of Federal, State, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement operations involving financial crimes and violations:

(a) the National Association of Attorneys General;

(b) the National District Attorneys Association; and

 

(c) such other representatives of State, local, tribal,and territorial law enforcement as the Attorney General deems appropriate.

 

Sec. 5. Outreach. Consistent with the law enforcement objectives set out in this order, the Task Force, in accordance with applicable law, in addition to regular meetings, shall conduct outreach with representatives of financial institutions, corporate entities, nonprofit organizations, State, local, tribal, and territorial governments and agencies, and other interested persons to foster greater coordination and participation in the detection and prosecution of financial fraud and financial crimes, and in the enforcement of antitrust and antidiscrimination laws.

Sec. 6. Administration. The Department of Justice, to the extent permitted by law and subject to the availability of appropriations, shall provide administrative support and funding for the Task Force.

Sec. 7. General Provisions.
 

(a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) authority granted by law to an executive department, agency, or the head thereof, or the status of that department or agency within the Federal Government; or
(ii) functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) This Task Force shall replace, and continue the work of, the Corporate Fraud Task Force created by Executive Order 13271 of July 9, 2002. Executive Order 13271 is hereby terminated pursuant to section 6 of that order.

(c) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(d) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

Sec. 8. Termination. The Task Force shall terminate when directed by the President or, with the approval of the President, by the Attorney General.

BARACK OBAMA

THE WHITE HOUSE,
November 17, 2009.

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
October 27, 2009

Statement by President Barack Obama on House and Senate Introducing Legislation to Crack Down on Overseas Tax Havens

“I commend Chairmen Baucus and Rangel, and Senator Kerry and Congressman Neal, for moving forward on the important task of giving the government the tools it needs to crack down on Americans hiding their assets in overseas tax havens. A small number of individuals and businesses hide their assets overseas solely in order to shirk their responsibilities, even as the vast majority of hard-working Americans honor the obligations of citizenship and fulfill their responsibilities.

“Shortly after taking office, I laid out a set of proposals to crack down on illegal overseas tax evasion.  The legislation introduced today would fulfill that promise, putting a stop to billions of dollars worth of abuses. I look forward to working with Congress to turn these proposals into law so that honest Americans no longer shoulder the burden of the few individuals and businesses that put profit before responsibility.”

Bending the Curve in More Ways Than One

Peter Orszag
Peter Orszag
October 13, 2009
02:57 PM EDT
Cross-posted from the OMB blog.

Over the past few days, a number of news articles about health reform have suggested that efforts to control the growth of health care costs are in jeopardy.  Great strides to control long-term health care costs have been made in both the Senate and the House — fulfilling a key goal of the President's health reform effort.

 
The two provisions that get the most attention are found in the Senate Finance Committee's mark.  The first is an excise tax on insurance companies offering high-premium plans — which would create an incentive for more efficient plans that would help reduce the growth of premiums. The second is a Medicare commission — which would develop and submit proposals to Congress aimed at extending the solvency of Medicare, slowing Medicare cost growth, and improving the quality of care delivered to Medicare beneficiaries. 
 
These are both crucial facets of a reform plan, but too often other important delivery system reforms are ignored — which is unfortunately the case for those recent news articles.  The result is a failure to recognize how far the entire political system has come in putting us on the verge of passing fiscally responsible health insurance reform.
Consider these important reforms found in many of the bills:
  • Bundled payments.  Bundled payments, which pay a fixed amount for an entire episode of care rather than piecemeal for each individual treatment or procedure, would help improve patient care by encouraging better and more coordinated care than under a fee-for-service system.  Bills in both the Senate and the House would develop, test, and evaluate bundled payment methods through a national, voluntary pilot program. Once we see what works and what doesn’t, bundled payments can be quickly scaled up across the country.
     
  • Penalties for high readmissions.  Too often, patients are discharged from the hospital without the necessary follow-up care — leading to re-hospitalization, risks to one’s health, and higher costs.  Under the proposals being considered, Medicare would collect data on readmission rates by hospital and would assess penalties on those hospitals with high, preventable readmission rates.
     
  • Accountable care organizations (ACOs).  Under the current system, quality and efficiency are not sufficiently rewarded, and there is little incentive for physicians to collaborate in the coordination of patient care.  Legislation in both houses would encourage and reward ACOs, which are groups of providers that are jointly responsible for the quality and cost of health care services for a population of beneficiaries with chronic conditions.
     
  • Quality incentives for physicians. These proposals would expand quality incentives for physicians and provide more timely feedback on physician performance based on their submitted data.
These — and other measures — are why a bipartisan group of experts recently wrote that health reform legislation under discussion "offers many promising ideas to improve the overall performance of the U.S. health care system.  In addition to steps that would reduce the number of Americans without insurance coverage, the plan includes ways to slow long-term spending growth while building the high-value health care system our nation urgently needs."  The Administration looks forward to working with the Congress as the legislation proceeds to continue to refine and improve these cost-containing steps.

Peter Orszag is Director of the Office of Management and Budget

 

Related Topics: Fiscal Responsibility, Health Care

Calling all Investors, Consumers and Moms: What Do You Want to Know about Financial Regulatory Reform?

Macon Phillips
Macon Phillips
October 12, 2009
04:12 PM EDT

In an effort to expand our online engagement around financial regulatory reform, the White House is trying something new. 

The President’s speech on Friday was covered by a number of blogs, including three that will be following up with exclusive White House interviews.  The editors of those websites have been collecting questions from their readers and tomorrow senior White House officials will answer them.

First is a website self-described as a "multimedia financial-services company dedicated to building the world's greatest investment community", The Motley Fool:

This is Washington's way of saying that they value the community of investors that gathers here at Fool.com. We've got plenty of questions about the White House's financial reform plans, but as ambassadors of Fool.com, we want your voice to be heard.

This is your chance to speak to the people who are shaping the policies that will affect our portfolios for years to come. Tell us what issues you want to see addressed. Just use the "comments" section below to tell us what we should ask the White House.

The second is a popular resource for consumer-driven advice on a wide range of topics, including finance, The Consumerist:

 Watch his video and leave your questions in the comments.... Then, next Tuesday, we'll interview Diana Farrell, Deputy Director of the National Economic Council, get you some answers, and post the video. Deal?

And finally, given the very active "mommy blogging" community’s unique perspective on financial decisions, we asked The Motherhood to gather questions from concerned parents.

So learn more about financial regulatory reform, join the conversation happening at these sites and check back tomorrow for the follow-up videos.

Related Topics: Economy, Fiscal Responsibility