No, Oncologists Are Not Going Broke

• By Margot Sanger-Katz
• April 23, 2013
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When the automatic spending cuts kicked in for Medicare this month, every doctor saw a 2 percent reduction in reimbursement from the government insurance program. But cancer doctors have made the most noise. A front-page Washington Post story reported that thousands of cancer patients were being turned away by doctors who could no longer afford to treat them. Members of Congress responded quickly, introducing legislation to reverse the cancer reimbursement cuts and asking the Health and Human Services Department to reinterpret the sequester law to exempt oncologists. “This particular cut itself is so devastating to cancer patients that this is one that we just have to see our way to improving and fixing,” said Rep. Renee Ellmers, R-N.C., who sponsored the bill to reverse the cancer cuts. (The doctors are unlikely to find an ally in President Obama, whose budget last week recommended even deeper cuts to their reimbursement.)

Partly, this is political theater. While some oncologists warn that patients will lose access to lifesaving care, others admit they’ll simply absorb the cuts and keep treating their ailing charges. Their median compensation was $430,695 in 2011, according to the Medical Group Management Association. But the situation also ...

Defense Department Goes Green to Save Lives, Not Environment

• By Ian Kullgren
• April 4, 2013
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Defense Department officials are pushing forward with an array of green energy initiatives, but saving the environment isn’t what’s driving their interest. Instead, they’re seeking to save lives and dollars. 

Defense officials are beginning to test solar-powered devices for troops in Afghanistan with the hope of reducing the number of fuel convoys, which are often targets of insurgent attacks.

Unlike previous wars, the conflict in Afghanistan does not have a clear battlefront. Instead, isolated hubs of American soldiers are connect by a wiry web of supply roads – often through unsecured lands where enemies attack, killing soldiers and cutting off fuel and water supplies.

From 2003 to 2007, more than 3,000 American troops were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan on resupply missions, according to an Army report.

“You have a quick reaction force that every day almost winds up in a fight because they’ve got to protect the convoy,” former Army Capt. Mike Breen, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and now is executive director of the Center for National Policy, said. “You’re doing all of these incredibly inefficient things, and it’s costing you lives and force structure.”

To cut back on dangerous fuel ...

GOP Seeks to Unwind Health Care Overhaul By Starving Agencies of Funding

• By Ian Kullgren
• March 29, 2013
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Their sights might be lowered, but they haven’t surrendered.

This week marks the one-year anniversary of Supreme Court arguments that resulted in the Affordable Care Act being upheld, and Republicans are re-tailoring their battle plan to fit the landscape.

Instead of pushing for a straightforward repeal by Congress -- which would never get by the Democratic-controlled Senate, let alone President Obama -- leaders are using the budgeting process to mount an attack against the agencies charged with executing the overhaul.

It’s a simple theory: If you can’t get rid of the law, sever its life source.

The largest changes included in the Affordable Care Act take effect next year -- most notably expanding Medicaid coverage to people whose income is lower than 133 percent of the poverty level -- giving Republicans who control the House the chance to snip provisions line-by-line during budget negotiations.

On March 21, the House passed a budget plan by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., that would remove funding for the law instead of trying to remove it from the books altogether.

But it’s not that simple, experts say. Such a plan might wound Obama’s landmark achievement, but would leave its vital organs intact.

“It would ...

Analysis: For How Long Can Feds ‘Do More With Less’?

• By Clement Christensen
• March 28, 2013
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The “do more with less” mantra is nothing new to government employees. While there is often a cry for less government, the truth is that most Americans want government that costs less, not government that does less. So government employees have now gone over two years without pay increases and had to endure numerous program cuts in the name of fiscal responsibility. While “doing more with less” may seem admirable, it may actually be harming employee productivity and driving a lower return on investment of taxpayer dollars.

Sometimes the best way to tell a story is by starting at the end. This story ends with productivity growth rates that have been declining for the past decade (see below.) While growth rates are still technically growing, a 0.3 percent productivity growth rate for 2012 is still cause for concern. New internet based collaboration technologies, flexible schedules, mobile devices, cloud computing and much more should be driving greater productivity growth. Yet here we are, almost five years into a recession with long-term productivity decreases.

In the past few days, we’ve explained the link between productivity and employee engagement. Simply put, engaged employees are vital to organizational success because they drive ...

Lawmakers Hunt Sequester Alternative in Defense, DHS Savings

• By Charles S. Clark
• March 19, 2013
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House lawmakers on Tuesday probed for alternatives to sequestration’s across-the-board budget cuts, interrogating executives and auditors from agencies many lawmakers associate with wasteful spending -- the Defense and Homeland Security departments.

The resulting fireworks touched on scenarios ranging from Cabinet members resigning to fighter planes being canceled to inspectors general gaining more subpoena authority.

Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., pinch-hitting as chairman at the start of the hearing, one of a series held by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, accused the Obama administration of “touting, now that the sequester in effect, allegedly harmful consequences rather than identifying waste fraud and abuse.” He rattled off a list of questionable federal expenditures such as $27 million for pottery classes in Morocco, a half-million on specialty shampoos for dogs and cats, $14,000 on swine manure management. He then proposed that the committee “work in a bipartisan, productive and non-alarmist manner.”

Mica then blasted the Homeland Security Department officials for having too many highly paid Transportation Security Administration employees bunched up at headquarters at the same time that Secretary Janet Napolitano was warning this month that sequestration would cause long waits for passengers to go through airport screening. “Any reason Janet Napolitano ...