John W Rodat

New Tool to Aid New York’s Medicaid Managed Long Term Care Plans

April 28, 2014 Dashboard

Faced with the challenge of a very expensive Medicaid program, New York chose to dramatically reform it. A key element of the reform is moving Medicaid long-term care patients, including nursing home patients, into managed care plans, especially managed long-term care plans (MLTC). A key element of the new policy is that MLTCs need not have […]

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Malaysia 370: How About Some Metadata?

March 24, 2014 Data

I groused a couple days ago about the mixed bag of “journalism” regarding the search for Malaysia Flight 370. In lieu of more speculation, the news coverage would be improved with more factual detail, e.g., more metadata. Here are a couple of examples data about the data that I would find useful: What are the […]

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To Better Understand, We Need Better News Coverage of Malaysia Flight 370

March 20, 2014 Analysis

A colleague and friend, knowing of my history flying large Air Force transports internationally, and who’s intensely curious about the fate of Malaysia Flight 370, has sent me a string of emails, most with the subject line: “does this make any sense?” My first response, and one which is still correct was this: “It is […]

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Clever Examples of an Indirect Measure

February 5, 2014 Analysis

Here are some terrific examples of measuring and visualizing without interfering with existing patterns or operations and without spending much time – and I suspect – without spending any money. Though I’m bicycle-biased, I’m not a transportation policy guy or an urban planner. Yet I’ve always admired those who figure out how to measure any […]

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The Rising Cost of Ignorance in Local Government Finance

February 5, 2014 Bond Rating

And here’s a really nice summary by Liz Farmer of why the cost of ignorance is rising in local government finance: Financial Illiteracy: One of Government’s Biggest and Least Discussed Problems. Yes, it’s more eat your fruits and vegetables stuff but … Don’t be surprised, as some have been even when their actions are legal, […]

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Reducing Ignorance in Local Government Finance

February 5, 2014 Bond Rating

From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Budgeting for the Future: Fiscal Planning Tools Can Show the Way (PDF), by Elizabeth C McNichol, Vincent Palacios, and Nicholas Johnson. Ten tools: Multi-Year Forecasts of Revenues and Spending Fiscal Notes with Multi-Year Projections Current Services Baselines Independent Consensus Revenue Forecasts Independent Legislative Fiscal Agencies Independent Review […]

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Not “Discharges” but “Transitions”

January 14, 2014 Health Care

Detroit Medical Center has made a concerted effort to re-structure their discharge process, even to the point of re-naming it. This is worth a read. “Now the word we use is transition, a much more refined process, to get our patients back into their community,” says Suzanne White, MD, the eight-hospital system’s executive vice president […]

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That’s my Girl!

November 5, 2013 Data

Halloween postscript. On her own initiative, granddaughter, age 9, surveyed her Halloween loot. Then she categorized it by size and counted the pieces (total 63). I’m so proud.

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Nursing Home Problems Visualized Nationally

October 18, 2013 Dashboard

John Kelly of USA Today and Emily Le Coz of the Jackson (Miss) Clarion-Ledger on USA Today have done an exemplary job of using the latest in data visualization technology to display and enable interactive exploration of nursing home problems. Take a look here! Note the interactivity. Be sure to look at each of the […]

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“Prioritizing” Federal Payments?

October 16, 2013 Cash

During the depth of the recent Great Recession, senior Budget and Finance staff would gather in my office once a week to decide which vendors our county would pay that week and which would not. We knew our cash position and which checks had been printed and held. While we had some idea of expected […]

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