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January 27, 2012
CDC: Cancer Screening - United States, 2010
Cancer Screening — United States, 2010, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, January 27, 2012 / 61(03);41-45
"Each year, approximately 350,000 persons are diagnosed with breast, cervical, or colorectal cancer in the United States, and nearly 100,000 die from these diseases (1). The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends screening tests for each of these cancers to reduce morbidity and mortality (2). Healthy People 2020 sets national objectives for use of the recommended cancer screening tests and identifies the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) as the means to measure progress. Data from the 2010 NHIS were analyzed to assess use of the recommended tests by age, race, ethnicity, education, length of U.S. residence, and source and financing of health care to identify groups not receiving the full benefits of screening and to target specific interventions to increase screening rates. Overall, the breast cancer screening rate was 72.4% (below the Healthy People 2020 target of 81.1%), cervical cancer screening was 83.0% (below the target of 93.0%), and colorectal cancer screening was 58.6% (below the target of 70.5%). Screening rates for all three cancer screening tests were significantly lower among Asians than among whites and blacks. Hispanics were less likely to be screened for cervical and colorectal cancer. Higher screening rates were positively associated with education, availability and use of health care, and length of U.S. residence. Continued monitoring of screening rates helps to assess progress toward meeting Healthy People 2020 targets and to develop strategies to reach those targets."
New GAO Report - Program Fraud Civil Remedies Act Observations on Implementation
Program Fraud Civil Remedies Act - Observations on Implementation, GAO-12-275R, January 27, 2012
"According to information provided by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and our survey of the Inspectors General (IG), five civilian agencies, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Energy, the Corporation for National and Community Service, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission used the Program Fraud Civil Remedies Act's (PFCRA) authorities to refer 141 cases to DOJ for approval by the Attorney General during fiscal years 2006 through 2010. Of the 141 cases, 135, or 96 percent, were referred by HUD. The remaining four agencies referred a total of 6 cases during this period."
BEA - Gross Domestic Product, 4th quarter and Annual 2011
News release: "Real gross domestic product - the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States - increased at an annual rate of 2.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011 (that is, from the third quarter to the fourth quarter), according to the "advance" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the third quarter, real GDP increased 1.8 percent. The Bureau emphasized that the fourth-quarter advance estimate released today is based on source data that are incomplete or subject to further revision by the source agency. The "second" estimate for the fourth quarter, based on more complete data, will be released on February 29, 2012. The increase in real GDP in the fourth quarter reflected positive contributions from private inventory investment, personal consumption expenditures (PCE), exports, residential fixed investment, and nonresidential fixed investment that were partly offset by negative contributions from federal government spending and state and local government spending. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased."
Related postings on financial system
New Biking Directions Legend on Google
New Biking Directions Legend: "If you’re looking for new ways to get around for fun or to work, or might be trying to live a greener lifestyle in 2012, why not try biking? In March 2010 we introduced biking directions and since then Google Maps has been sharing biking directions with cyclists across the U.S and Canada. Since no bike path is the same, many users have requested an easier way to differentiate the different types of bike routes that are available. Starting today, a new legend feature can help you understand what the different colors on the bike maps symbolize.
- Dark green is for dedicated trails and paths
- Light green is for roads with dedicated lanes
- Dotted green is for roads that are friendly for cyclists
- You can view this legend by clicking on the widget in upper right corner of Google Maps and selecting the Bicycling layer. You can also access biking directions on your Android device or by going to maps.google.com on your mobile browser. Whether you want to drive, take transit, walk or even bike, Google Maps can help you get around. To see how it works on your Android phone take a tour here."
Public Alerts now on Google Maps
Google Lat Long blog:"[January 25, 2012] mark[ed] the launch of a new Google Crisis Response project: Google Public Alerts, a platform designed to bring you relevant emergency alerts when and where you’re searching for them. If a major weather event is headed for your area, you might go online to search for the information you need: What’s happening? Where and when will it strike? How severe will it be? What resources are available to help? The Google Crisis Response team works on providing critical emergency information during crises. Our goal is to surface emergency information through the online tools you use everyday, when that information is relevant and useful. With today’s launch of Public Alerts on Google Maps, relevant weather, public safety, and earthquake alerts from US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Weather Service, and the US Geological Survey (USGS) will be accessible when you search on Google Maps."
CRS - International Trade: Rules of Origin
International Trade: Rules of Origin. Vivian C. Jones, Specialist in International Trade and Finance; Michael F. Martin, Analyst in Asian Trade and Finance, January 5, 2012
"Determining the country of origin of a product is important for properly assessing tariffs, enforcing trade remedies (such as antidumping and countervailing duties) or quantitative restrictions (tariff quotas), and statistical purposes. Other commercial trade policies are also linked with origin determinations, such as country of origin labeling and government procurement regulations. Rules of origin (ROO) can be very simple, noncontroversial tools of international trade as long as all of the parts of a product are manufactured and assembled primarily in one country. However, when a finished product’s component parts originate in many countries—as is often the case in today’s global trading environment—determining origin can be a very complex, sometimes subjective, and time-consuming process. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the agency responsible for determining country of origin using various ROO schemes. Non-preferential rules of origin are used to determine the origin of goods imported from countries with which the United States has most-favored-nation (MFN) status. Preferential rules are used to determine the eligibility of imported goods from certain U.S. free trade agreement (FTA) partners and certain developing country beneficiaries to receive duty-free or reduced tariff benefits under bilateral or regional FTAs and trade preference programs. Preferential rules of origin are generally specific to each FTA, or preference, meaning that they vary from agreement to agreement and preference to preference."
January 26, 2012
2011 Small Business Profiles for the States and Territories
2011 Small Business Profiles for the States and Territories
"The economic condition of small businesses in the United States is captured in the latest edition of the Small Business Profiles for the States and Territories. This annual publication from the Office of Advocacy provides information on the demographics of business ownership, employment, industry composition, and small business income, for each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The publication provides available limited data on the U.S. territories The value of this publication is the detail it provides about small businesses at the state level. An Excel spreadsheet containing all of the data in the profiles is also available. The state and territory profiles are in Adobe PDF format."
TRAC Report - DHS Referred Most Federal Criminal Prosecutions in October 2011
TRAC: "The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during October 2011 the Department of Homeland Security's efforts to enforce immigration and customs laws accounted for 59% of all federal criminal prosecutions. The government reported 8,038 new prosecutions for these DHS matters as compared with a total of 13,628 from all sources. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 9.3 percent over the previous month. These comparisons of the number of defendants charged are based on case-by-case information obtained by TRAC under the Freedom of Information Act from the Executive Office for United States Attorneys."
New GAO Reports: GAO Mission and Operations, Medicare Advantage, FHFA Financial Audit
- GAO Mission and Operations - Summary of GAO's Performance and Accountability Report Fiscal Year 2011, GAO-12-5SP, January 26, 2012
- Medicare Advantage - CMS Should Improve the Accuracy of Risk Score Adjustments for Diagnostic Coding Practices, GAO-12-51, January 12, 2012
- Financial Audit - Federal Housing Finance Agency's Fiscal Years 2011 and 2010 Financial Statements [Reissued on January 26, 2012]
GAO-12-161, Nov 15, 2011
UK Financial Regulator Paper: Large Exposures Regime Groups of Connected Clients and Connected Counterparties
Large Exposures Regime Groups of Connected Clients and Connected Counterparties, Financial Services Authority, January 26, 2012
"To propose new guidance on the treatment of LE to structured finance vehicles. This guidance builds on the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS) guidelines on the implementation of the revised LE regime published in December 2009. We aim to provide additional clarity on how exposures to structured finance vehicles, such as asset backed commercial paper (ABCP) conduits, credit card and mortgage master trusts (MT), covered bonds (CB), commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS), collateralised loan obligations (CLO) and certain other standalone securitisation vehicles should be aggregated under the LE regime."
Related postings on financial system
Health and Access to Care Among Employed and Unemployed Adults: United States, 2009–2010
Health and Access to Care Among Employed and Unemployed Adults: United States, 2009–2010, Key data:
"In 2009–2010, 48.1% of unemployed adults aged 18–64 years had health insurance compared with 81.4% of employed adults; among the insured, a higher proportion of the unemployed had public insurance.
- Unemployed adults had poorer mental and physical health than employed adults; this pattern is found for insured and uninsured adults.
- Unemployed adults were less likely to receive needed medical care due to cost than the employed in each insurance category.
- The unemployed were less likely to receive needed prescriptions due to cost than the employed in all insurance categories.
- Uninsured adults were less likely to receive needed medical care and prescription drugs due to cost than those with public or private insurance, regardless of employment status.
Border Security: Immigration Enforcement Between Ports of Entry
CRS - Border Security: Immigration Enforcement Between Ports of Entry, Marc R. Rosenblum, Specialist in Immigration Policy. January 6, 2012
'Border enforcement is a core element of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’s) effort to control illegal migration, with the U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) within the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as the lead agency along most of the border. Border enforcement has been an ongoing subject of congressional interest since the 1970s, when illegal immigration to the United States first registered as a serious national problem; and border security has received additional attention in the decade following the terrorist attacks of 2001. Since the 1990s, migration control at the border has been guided by a strategy of “prevention through deterrence”—the idea that the concentration of personnel, infrastructure, and surveillance technology along heavily trafficked regions of the border will discourage unauthorized aliens from attempting to enter the United States. Since 2005, CBP has attempted to discourage repeat entries and disrupt migrant smuggling networks by imposing tougher penalties against certain unauthorized aliens, a set of policies known as “enforcement with consequences.”
CRS - Proposed Keystone XL Pipeline: Legal Issues
Proposed Keystone XL Pipeline: Legal Issues, January 23, 2012
"In 2008, TransCanada Corp. applied for a presidential permit from the State Department to construct and operate an oil pipeline across the U.S.-Canada border in a project known as Keystone XL. The Keystone XL pipeline would transport oil produced from oil sands in Alberta, Canada, to Gulf Coast refineries. The permit application was subjected to review by the State Department pursuant to executive branch authority over cross-border pipeline facilities as articulated in Executive Order 13337. After several phases of review, on November 10, 2011, the State Department announced that it would seek additional information about alternative pipeline routes before it could move forward with a national interest determination. In response, several pieces of legislation were introducedThis report reviews those legal issues. First, it suggests that legislation related to cross-border facility permitting is unlikely to raise significant constitutional questions, despite the fact that such permits have traditionally been handled by the executive branch alone pursuant to its constitutional “foreign affairs” authority. Next, it observes generally that state oversight of pipeline siting decisions does not appear to violate existing federal law or the Constitution. Finally, the report suggests that State Department’s implementation of the existing authority to issue presidential permits appears to allow for judicial review of its National Environmental Policy Act determinations."
CDC: Surveillance of Demographic Characteristics and Health Behaviors Among Adult Cancer Survivors
Surveillance of Demographic Characteristics and Health Behaviors Among Adult Cancer Survivors — Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, United States, 2009 - MMWR / January 20, 2012 / Vol. 61 / No. 1
"A cancer survivor is a person who has received a diagnosis of cancer, from the time of diagnosis throughout the person's life (1–3). The aging of the U.S. population has resulted in an increase in the number of cancer diagnoses, and because of improvements in early detection and treatment, the number of cancer survivors has steadily increased during the last 3 decades. As of 2007, nearly 12 million cancer survivors were living in the United States. Cancer survivors often face long-term adverse physical, psychosocial, and financial effects from their cancer diagnosis and treatment; the impact of cancer on family members, friends, and caregivers of survivors is considered a part of cancer survivorship. Cancer survivors have a greater risk for new cancers compared with persons who have never had cancer. Various healthy lifestyle behaviors have been shown to prevent new malignancies and decrease the chances of recurrence among cancer survivors. Prevention and cessation of tobacco use (primarily cigarette smoking), regular physical activity (15), maintenance of a healthy weight, and routine consultation with health-care providers about follow-up care after a cancer diagnosis (i.e., survivorship care plans) have shown evidence of the ability to prevent new cancers or cancer recurrence, increase survival, and strengthen quality of life after a cancer diagnosis. Survivor-specific resources and support are necessary to promote positive health outcomes and improve quality of life."
State Revenue Report - Tax Revenue Keeps Rising, But Growth Again Ticks Downward
Tax Revenue Keeps Rising, But Growth Again Ticks Downward - Thirty-Six States Were Still Below Peak Collection Levels in FY 2011
Overall State Taxes and Local Taxes: "Total state tax collections as well as collections from two major sources — taxes on sales and personal income — showed growth for the seventh consecutive quarter in July-September 2011. Overall state tax revenues increased by 6.1 percent from the same quarter of the previous year, according to data collected by the Rockefeller Institute and the Census Bureau. The Institute’s findings indicate slightly stronger fiscal conditions for states than the preliminary data released in late December 2011 by the Census Bureau, which reported an overall increase of 5.6 percent. We have updated those figures to reflect data we have since obtained and to reflect differences in how we measure revenue for purposes of the State Revenue Report...declines in personal income tax and sales tax collections as well as in overall state tax collections were steeper in and after the Great Recession that began in December 2007 than around previous recessions. Overall tax collections as well as personal income and sales tax revenues showed softening growth in the third quarter of 2011. Personal income tax collections showed growth of 10.1 percent and sales tax collections rose by 3.8 percent."
