August 05, 2010 The Utility of Trouble Municipal Health Care and the GIC: Success and Limitations Health and Human Services: Health insurance reform at the municipal level can provide significant relief to municipalities: that is documented in this policy brief. However, progress in moving municipalities to the GIC is now stalled because of the high threshold to negotiate into the state system, which requires coalition bargaining among all municipal labor unions.

August 03, 2010 The Utility of Trouble: Municipal Health Care and the GIC: Success and Limitations Health and Human Services: In 2007, the Governor and Legislature created a new law allowing cities and towns to negotiate with their unions and retirees to join the Group Insurance Commission (GIC). Since then, 15 municipalities in metropolitan Boston have joined the GIC, and those communities reported savings of more than $35,500,000 in the first year: that figure does not include either savings from communities outside of metropolitan Boston or lower cost trends after the first year in the GIC. Health insurance reform at the municipal level can provide significant relief to municipalities: that is documented in this policy brief.

July 27, 2010 Priorities and Public Safety II: Adopting Effective Probation Practices Community Safety: Over the past six months, the Massachusetts criminal justice system has come under scrutiny due to the budget growth in its corrections agencies. This growth combined with the state’s budget crisis has compelled a closer examination of the oversight, decision-making and outcomes of one particular agency: the Probation Department.  Recent reports have highlighted the Department’s hiring practices, lack of oversight and reluctance to share important public safety data and has led to calls for significant change in its structure, management and oversight.

June 30, 2010 The Utility of Trouble: Maximizing the Value of Our Human Services Dollars Executive Summary Health and Human Services: The delivery of human services has been revolutionized over the past 40 years, but in at least two important aspects Massachusetts has lagged—failing to reform the administrative structure of the human services agencies, and retaining too many large institutions for clients who could be better treated in community settings.  The analysis in this report focuses on the seven largest human services agencies within the EOHHS and recommends changes necessary to improve the quality of the services delivered.

June 10, 2010 The Utility of Trouble: Maximizing the Value of Our Human Services Dollars Health and Human Services: The delivery of human services has been revolutionized over the past 40 years, but in at least two important aspects Massachusetts has lagged—failing to reform the administrative structure of the human services agencies, and retaining too many large institutions for clients who could be better treated in community settings.  The analysis in this report focuses on the seven largest human services agencies within the EOHHS and recommends changes necessary to improve the quality of the services delivered.