Public Values

Outsourced medical transcripts prompt privacy concerns

Feb 062013
 
 Public Values
Doctor using a computer.

Hospital Employees Union calls for audit.

by SGNews Staff

The Hospital Employees' Union is asking BC's privacy commissioner Elizabeth Denham to investigate outsourced medical transcription services in the greater Vancouver area, citing concerns over the privacy and accuracy of patients' medical information.

Over the past few years, health authorities have dramatically expanded the outsourcing of medical transcription and plan to completely contract out the service by 2014.

"Right now, highly trained and skilled medical transcriptionists are employed by health authorities and work onsite in secure office spaces," said Bonnie Pearson, HEU secretary-business manager.
 
"This in-house service ensures direct access to electronic medical records, physicians and other members of the health care team to verify patient information, tests and procedures, diagnoses, medications and treatment plans.  Our members are charged with handling highly sensitive data.  It's imperative that work be done on internal information systems with secure internet connections.  This system makes sense and provides greater quality assurance for patients' medical charts."
 
She said outsourcing medical transcription would make it "virtually impossible" to guarantee privacy when the work is done by a nationwide network of home-based workers.
 
A significant portion of Vancouver-area medical transcription services is outsourced to Accentus, Inc.  By 2014, all medical transcription in the area is to be transferred to M*Model Canada.
 
Lay-off notices have been issued to more than 130 in-house medical transcriptionists.
 

Tax cuts shifted burden from corporations to households — CCPA

Feb 062013
 
 Public Values
Income tax forms.

Study offers more equitable options.

from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

The BC government likes to boast that the province has the lowest personal and corporate income taxes in Canada but a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives says that's nothing to be proud of.

"A decade-plus of tax cuts has left us in a budget crunch and failed to deliver on promised economic benefits," says Seth Klein, co-author of the study and BC Director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.  "In recent years, BC's economic performance, business investment and job creation have all been fairly average in Canada.  What BC's tax policies have delivered, however, is a much less fair system. 

Taxes have been shifted from corporations to households, and from upper-income households to middle and modest-income ones.”

 
Among the study's key findings:
  • If BC collected today the same amount in tax revenues as a share of the economy (GDP) as it did in 2000, there would be $3.5 billion more in public funds; meaning no deficit, and the ability to invest in enhanced or even new public services like early learning and childcare programs for all children.
  • If BC collected the same amount of personal income tax as the average for other provinces, it would have an additional $2.4 billion in revenues.
The study models a series of possible tax reform options that would increase the province's fiscal capacity and spread the tax bill more fairly.  It focuses primarily on personal income taxes, but also considers changes to property taxes, corporate taxes and resource royalties.  The options presented are not meant to be adopted as a whole package, but highlight the range of possibilities and the amount of new revenues that can be raised.
 
If the top six percent of British Columbians paid more income taxes, with an increase to the current top bracket and the creation of two more for incomes over $150,000 and $200,000, $930 million would be raised, in one model.  Budgetary possibilities with that amount could include 2,000 new units of social housing per year, increases to welfare rates and reduction in school class sizes, according to the report.
 
Other options include rolling back corporate income tax cuts to 2005 levels, reducing overly generous corporate tax deductions and increasing government returns from resources, which would raise over $1 billion.
 
The study follows recent CCPA opinion research showing that most British Columbians are ready to consider tax increases.
 
"People are well aware that we face a budget crunch," says co-author Iglika Ivanova, CCPA  economist.  "They understand that without more revenues, we can't sustain key services we rely on like health care, education — let alone address challenges like inequality, poverty, climate change and the affordability crisis in housing and childcare."
 

Seattle’s teacher uprising: high school teachers boycott standardized tests

Feb 042013
 
 Public Values
Seattle teachers oppose the MAP test.

Test is unreliable and unfair, say teachers at Jimi Hendrix's alma mater.

from Democracy Now!

Democracynow.org reports that teachers at a Seattle-area high school attended by rock legend Jimi Hendrix have unanimously voted to boycott administering a test they say is not only an unreliable measure of students' performance, but is used unfairly to rate teachers' performance. So far, teachers are not backing down despite a threat of a 10-day suspension.
 

The probation revolution — does privatization put financial return above social justice?

Feb 042013
 
 Public Values
ProbationOfficer

Who delivers criminal justice matters.

 from SAGE News

SAGE News explores the recent announcement by British Justice Secretary Chris Grayling of a probation "revolution" that will mean wholesale privatization of the probation system by 2015. He said that radical measures were needed to tackle the high rate of short-sentenced prisoners reoffending within a year.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Conservatives have “no clue” how privatization plan for bases will affect military, critics say

Feb 032013
 
 Public Values
Peter MacKay

Ideology, not economics, drives decision.

from the Ottawa Citizen

The Ottawa Citizen recently broke the story that the federal government will be handing over some of the defence department's large stock of properties to the private sector. To answer the auditor general's concerns about crumbling military infrastructure, Defense Minister Peter McKay is looking to "leverage private sector capabilities". The plan, short on details, constitutes blind faith in the private sector, says NDP critic Jack Harris.
 
 
 

 

Don’t sell our hot springs, say Jasper residents

Feb 032013
 
 Public Values
Miette Hot Springs.

They belong to all Canadians.

from Public Servie Alliance of Canada Prairie Region

Members of the PSAC prairie region organized a town hall meeting recently with concerned residents in Jasper, BC to discover there was widespread agreement about the privatization of three Parks Canada hot springs: it should not occur.

Parks Canada announced its plans to privatize the operations of the hot springs in Banff, Jasper and Radium late last year.

Affected PSAC members expect an increase in fees or a decrease in the standards of service, and Jasper residents agreed.

Many residents were concerned that Miette Hot Springs near Jasper would turn into a playground for the elite, with spa pricing making it harder for working-class Canadians to afford,

For Doris Setcher, the hot springs have been a place for celebrations for half a century.

"Fifty years ago, we celebrated our honeymoon at the hot springs," she said. "We celebrated there because it was the most reasonable place we could afford after university. It turned out to be a wonderful place for us, and we've been back many, many times. Our daughter was even engaged there. Under privatization, it will no longer be a suitable place for young people to get engaged, spend their honeymoon and enjoy the scenery."

"I think what the government is trying to do is undermine our workforce by bringing in cheap labour," she added. "I think our resources are valuable, and our people should be paid well for what they do."

The hot springs are a cost-neutral Parks Canada program, earning about one million dollars in profits each year.

"I think everyone in this room would be here even if we knew that the hot springs were operating at a loss," said resident Brian Lackie. "But to know they're operating at a profit, and still being sold off, it seems like such an insult."

Source

BC’s teachers’ federation says Premier’s plan ignores court rulings

Jan 312013
 
 Public Values
BCteachers

The right to bargain working conditions is missing.

from the BC Teachers' Federation

Premier Christy Clark's proposed plan for a 10-year deal with public school teachers ignores court rulings, contradicts government's own legislation, and risked scuttling a positive bargaining framework on the eve of its expected ratification by the BC Teachers' Federation and the BC Public School Employers' Association.

 "The premier's plan is flawed in a number of significant ways," says BCTF President Susan Lambert.

Continue reading »

AUPE demands investigation of seniors care

Jan 312013
 
 Public Values
The AUPE is demanding an investigation of seniors care.

While private care growth is fueled with public money, public care faces bed closures.

from the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees

Alberta Union of Provincial Employees President Guy Smith is calling on Premier Alison Redford to launch a public inquiry into the state of seniors health care and has requested an investigation by the Office of the Auditor General.

Continue reading »

One in six Philadelphia public schools is targeted for closure

Jan 312013
 
 Public Values
Philadelphia's school district is closing six schools that mostly serve African Americans.

Most affected students are African-American.

from The Nation

Allison Kilkenny, writing for The Nation.com, explores a recent Philadelphia school district's decision to close six public schools serving a student population that is 81 percent African-American. Just last spring, 5,000 new charter school seats were approved, to the tune of $139 million over five years. The district claims a cost-savings overall of $28 million, but the numbers don't add up, says Kilkenny.

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