The federal government is more aggressively pursuing health care fraud, and helping the states do the same, by proposing funding changes and investing in new technologies. A newly proposed rule would allow 90% Federal Financial Participation (FFP) for data mining initiatives in state Medicaid Fraud Control Units (MFCU’s). Another proposed
I’m amazed that so many financial institutions seem to hold fraud at a seemingly low priority. Fraud is often viewed as “the cost of doing business.” What if your view of fraud could be altered so that it became “the profit of doing business”? With the growth in new payment
Brian Whittington mentioned last month that government is innovating, and at great speed. Based on what I’ve seen in our line of work with state and local governments around the country in the past year, I have to agree. In the face of today’s daunting fiscal challenges, state and local
Okay…I don’t usually do the rah-rah SAS stuff, but it was a really great week here and I wanted to share. The Analytic Cheerleader is getting out her pom-poms and cheering for SAS! Since I’ve been a SAS employee for exactly 3 months, I thought it was a good time
Most people don’t think about government when they hear the word “innovation”, but it’s happening, and has been since long before “The Great Recession.” However, the current economic conditions have certainly moved things along. Government responds very similarly to private industry when faced with challenges. SAS manages to do relatively
Recently I was listening to an NPR (National Public Radio) documentary about the history of cancer and medicine’s evolution in understanding and treating cancer. This was an amazing story. I would venture a guess that nearly everyone who is reading this post has been affected by cancer in one way
Paula Joshi wrote last month about how what we learn from the commercial world can be applied in government. She also promised to post a few examples. I’ll get that ball rolling. This week SAS announced the availability of SAS Enterprise Case Management. While the announcement focuses more on the
One of the primary goals of this blog is to establish our contributors and by extension, SAS, as thought leaders in a variety of state & local government areas. It’s also a goal of the upcoming SAS Government Insights publication, which includes a thoughtful opinion piece about what it means
Today SAS joins thousands of others across the globe to celebrate the first World Statistics Day, proclaimed by the United Nations as a way to “help strengthen the awareness and trust of the public in official statistics.” More than 85 government agencies in nearly 70 different countries around the world
The shortfall in 2010 state and local government budgets is not news. But it remains the biggest issue facing state and local governments today – and will continue well into tomorrow. Existing gaps are projected to widen further in 2011, throwing departments and agencies already on the edge further into
Unemployment Insurance, mandated by federal statute and administered by states, is designed to provide a temporary safety net for workers who lose their jobs. Due to the recent economic downtown and increase in unemployment, unemployment benefits paid have doubled nationally from $38B in 2008 to $75B in 2009. However, is
The last two years have been one long, downhill-only roller coaster ride for state and local governments. Budget crises that are the result of decreasing revenues at every level have left state legislatures, governors and local government leadership struggling to maintain effective services for their citizens and, in some cases,
I recently met with five people who have been in state and local government for a combined total of over 100 years. It was a group that covered multiple areas of government including Health and Human Services, Courts and Corrections, Finance and Emergency Management. Everyone came to the table with
In his introductory address, public sector session moderator Thomas Spiller of SAS neatly summed up some of the biggest challenges faced by national governments: dealing with the current economic climate and managing a crisis of confidence within their governments. In his experience, government responses seem to fall in to three
As I make my way around the country I often have the opportunity to talk with state and local government leaders and as you can imagine, the financial crisis is the first, second and third topics on their minds. Everywhere, state and local governments are forced with painful decisions to
I presented recently at the County Auditors Association of California annual conference. It was a packed house in Death Valley, CA, and after weathering a major sandstorm, the attendees seemed anxious to learn of the latest fraud trends in local government. Based on the questions and sidebar discussions throughout the
The motto of SAS’ home state gets at what I hope will be a recurring theme of State and Local Connections. How can state and local governments differentiate between what seems to be and what is? How can they move beyond intuition and gut feelings to know the truth? It
Decision management expert James Taylor wins the prize for most prolific blogger from The Series. James gives us thorough summaries of great presentations on: Balancing Intuition and Analytics in Decision Making. Analytics & Innovation, Analytics in the Executive Suite. SAS Media Day customer panels on fraud detection. and optimization. By
In the UK there is debate forming about how best to target benefits on the most deserving cases without building a dependency culture. For some time the UK Government has been using 'means tests' to ascertain whether a claimant needs State support, or whether they have independent resources that they
