Tag: press release

Report Highlights Public Health Impact of Serious Harms From Diagnostic Error in U.S.

Mary Pat Campbell

Link:https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/newsroom/news-releases/report-highlights-public-health-impact-of-serious-harms-from-diagnostic-error-in-us#:~:text=Results%20of%20the%20new%20analysis,of%20the%20public%20health%20problem.

Excerpt:

Improving diagnosis in health care is a moral, professional and public health imperative, according to the U.S. National Academy of Medicine. However, little is known about the full scope of harms related to medical misdiagnosis — current estimates range widely. Using novel methods, a team from the Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute Center for Diagnostic Excellence and partners from the Risk Management Foundation of the Harvard Medical Institutions sought to derive what is believed to be the first rigorous national estimate of permanent disability and death from diagnostic error.  

The original research article was published July 17 by BMJ Quality & Safety. Results of the new analysis of national data found that across all clinical settings, including hospital and clinic-based care, an estimated 795,000 Americans die or are permanently disabled by diagnostic error each year, confirming the pressing nature of the public health problem.  

….

To identify their findings, researchers multiplied national measures of disease incidence by the disease-specific proportion of patients with that illness who experience errors or harms. Researchers repeated this method for the 15 diseases causing the most harms, then extrapolated to the grand total across all dangerous diseases. To assess the accuracy of the final estimates, the study’s authors ran the analyses under different sets of assumptions to measure the impact of methodological choices and then tested the validity of findings by comparing them with independent data sources and expert review. The resulting national estimate of 371,000 deaths and 424,000 permanent disabilities reflects serious harms widely across care settings, and it matches data produced from multiple prior studies that focused on diagnostic errors in ambulatory clinics and emergency departments and during inpatient care.  

Vascular events, infections and cancers, dubbed the Big Three, account for 75% of the serious harms. The study found that 15 diseases account for 50.7% of the total serious harms. Five conditions causing the most frequent serious harms account for 38.7% of total serious harms: stroke, sepsis, pneumonia, venous thromboembolism and lung cancer. The overall average error rate across diseases was estimated at 11.1%, but the rate ranges widely from 1.5% for heart attack to 62% for spinal abscess. The top cause of serious harm from misdiagnosis was stroke, which was found to be missed in 17.5% of cases.  

Author(s):  David Newman-Toker 

Publication Date: 17 July 2023

Publication Site: Johns Hopkins, press release

DiNapoli: Woman Pleads Guilty to Theft and Must Pay Back $459K in NYS Pension and Social Security Payments

Mary Pat Campbell

Link:https://www.osc.state.ny.us/press/releases/2023/07/dinapoli-woman-pleads-guilty-theft-and-must-pay-back-459k-nys-pension-and-social-security-payments?utm_content=20230715&utm_medium=email&utm_source=weekly+news

Excerpt:

State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia Ryan K. Buchanan and Inspector General for the Social Security Administration Gail S. Ennis today announced that Sandra Smith, a resident of Georgia, has pleaded guilty to the federal crime of theft of government funds and must pay back $459,050 in New York state pension and Social Security payments that were issued to her deceased mother-in-law.

“Exploiting the death of a family member for personal profit is a heinous crime,” DiNapoli said. “The defendant took advantage of our state pension fund and the Social Security Administration but as a result of our joint investigation her crimes were discovered. She now faces the consequences of her actions. My thanks to U.S. Attorney Buchanan and the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General for their partnership in ensuring justice was served and restitution was made in this case.”

Smith pleaded guilty to two counts of theft of government funds. Under her plea agreement, she will pay $264,699 in restitution to the state pension system and $194,351 to the SSA.

The defendant’s late-mother-in-law, Minnie Smith, was an employee of the New York State Insurance Fund for 20 years until retiring in 2005. To be closer to family, she moved from Brooklyn to Georgia afterward and passed away there on Sept. 14, 2006.

As her mother-in-law’s caretaker, Sandra Smith had access to her bank account, which she kept open after her mother-in-law’s death to enable the theft of continued payments from the New York state pension system and Social Security. The thefts were discovered and investigated by the Comptroller’s Division of Investigations and the SSA-OIG.

Smith, 49, pleaded before Judge Eleanor Ross of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

Author(s): press release

Publication Date: 11 July 2023

Publication Site: Office of the NY State Comptroller

Northwestern Medicine shares new findings from the Comprehensive COVID-19 Center as significant demand remains for patient appointments

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://news.nm.org/northwestern-medicine-shares-new-findings-from-the-comprehensive-covid-19-center-as-significant-demand-remains-for-patient-appointments/

Graphic:

Excerpt:

Long COVID occurs in approximately a third of COVID survivors and is now the third leading neurologic disorder in the United States. In May 2020, during the height of the pandemic, Northwestern Medicine physicians noticed this growing trend and established one of the first Comprehensive COVID-19 Centers in the United States to treat patients suffering from lingering impacts of the virus such as brain fog, shortness of breath and chest pain. Three years later, a new study published in the American Journal of Medicine reports key findings from more than 1,800 patients who were evaluated during the first 21 months at the Northwestern Medicine Comprehensive COVID-19 Center (CCC) with neurology, pulmonology and cardiology being the most commonly accessed specialties and still in high-demand today.  

….

The team evaluated 1,802 patients (350 post-hospitalization and 1,452 non-hospitalized) via telehealth or in-person at the CCC between May 2020 and February 2022. Patients were seen in 2,361 initial visits in 12 specialty clinics including neurology, pulmonology, cardiology, otolaryngology, gastroenterology, infectious diseases, endocrinology, nephrology, hematology, dermatology, psychiatry and rheumatology. Patients most commonly sought treatment from neurology (49%), pulmonology (25%) and cardiology (12%) specialists.

Among patients tested:

–        85% of patients reported decreased quality of life

–        51% had cognitive impairment

–        45% had altered lung function

–        83% had abnormal CT chest scans

–        12% had elevated heart rate on rhythm monitoring

–        Frequency of cognitive impairment and pulmonary dysfunction was associated with severity of acute COVID-19

–        Non-hospitalized patients with positive COVID-19 testing had similar findings than those with negative or no test results

DEMOGRAPHICS

–        65% of patients identified as female

–        Average age at first clinic visit was 47 years old

–        72% were White, 10% were Black, 4% were Asian and 13% were Hispanic

Publication Date: 13 Jul 2023

Publication Site: Northwestern Medical

LACERA Pension Spending Boosts L.A. County Economy by More Than $2 Billion

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.yahoo.com/now/lacera-pension-spending-boosts-l-204600576.html

Excerpt:

The Los Angeles County Employee Retirement Association (LACERA) provides pension benefits to 73,385 pensioners nationwide, with more than 60,000 residing in California and more than 42,000 residing in Los Angeles County. The benefits those pensioners receive ripple throughout the economy, affecting various industries and job sectors. In 2021, these pensioners generated a total economic output of $2.7 billion and supported thousands of jobs in Los Angeles County, according to a report just released by Beacon Economics titled “Economic, Fiscal and Social Impacts of LACERA Pensioners.”

With retirement security becoming a pressing national issue, the report that LACERA commissioned found that defined benefit plans, such as those offered by LACERA, are more efficient, secure, and provide more value than defined contribution plans like 401(k)s in delivering sustainable retirement benefits. The pooled assets of a defined benefit plan offer superior financial protection compared to defined contribution plans, as they remove longevity risk, offer inflation protection, and provide death benefits while delivering a secure and steady income to the beneficiaries. The United States Census Bureau found that the nation’s rapidly aging population has seen a 31 percent increase in those aged 65 and older from 2011 to 2021.

Author(s): LACERA

Publication Date: 12 Dec 2022

Publication Site: Global newswire press release

(Updated) New Hong Kong Watch report finds that MSCI investors are at risk of passively funding crimes against humanity in Xinjiang

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.hongkongwatch.org/all-posts/2022/12/5/updated-new-hkw-report-finds-that-msci-investors-are-at-risk-of-passively-funding-crimes-against-humanity-in-xinjiang

Report PDF: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/58ecfa82e3df284d3a13dd41/t/638e318e6697c029da8e5c38/1670263209080/EDITED+REPORT+5+DEC.pdf

Graphic:

Excerpt:

A new report by Hong Kong Watch have found that a number of pension funds may be passively invested in at least 13 China based companies where there is credible evidence of involvement in Uyghur forced labour programs and construction of internment camps in Xinjiang.

 As part of the report, Hong Kong Watch found that major asset managers are exposed passively to these companies as a result of their inclusion on Morgan Stanley Capital International’s Emerging Markets Index, China Index and All World Index ex-USA.  

….

Commenting on the release of the report, Johnny Patterson, co-founder and a research fellow at Hong Kong Watch, said:

“13 companies on MSCI’s emerging markets index are either known to have directly used forced labour through China’s forcible transfer of Uyghurs, or been involved in the construction of camps. Given this Index is the most widely tracked Emerging Markets index in the world, it raises serious questions about how seriously international financial institutions take their international human rights obligations or the ‘S’ in ESG.

Our view is that firms known to use modern slavery or known to be complicit in crimes against humanity should be classed alongside tobacco as ‘sin stocks’, or stocks which investors do not touch. Governments have a duty to signal which firms are unacceptable, but international financial institutions must also be doing their full due diligence. It is unacceptable that enormous amounts of the money of ordinary pensioners and retail investors is being passively channelled into firms that are known to use forced labour.” 

Publication Date: 5 Dec 2022

Publication Site: Hong Kong Watch

Hong Kong Watch gives evidence to the Canada-China Relationship Committee on ESG investment & country risk analysis

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.hongkongwatch.org/all-posts/2022/12/1/hong-kong-watch-gives-evidence-to-the-canada-china-relationship-committee-on-esg-investment-amp-country-risk-analysis

Excerpt:

On Tuesday, Hong Kong Watch’s co-founder and trustee, Aileen Calverley, and Director of Policy and Advocacy, Sam Goodman, gave evidence to the Special Committee on the Canada–People’s Republic of China Relationship on the exposure of Canadian pension funds to Chinese stocks and bonds.

Hong Kong Watch has previously written extensively on the question of ESG, business, human rights, and Canadian pension funds exposure to Chinese companies linked to gross human rights violations, including the internment camps in Xinjiang.

In his remarks, Sam Goodman, discussed why China should be considered an ESG investment risk, recommending that:

  • Lawmakers consider sensible regulations to define ESG, label China as an ESG risk, and introduce a blacklist like the USA to restrict investment in Chinese firms with questionable human rights, environmental, and governance credentials.

In her remarks, Aileen Calverley discussed the risk of pension fund investments in China in the event of sanctions, recommending that the Government:

  • Include a China Country Risk Analysis in the Indo-Pacific Strategy.
  • Encourage publicly controlled pension funds to avoid exposure in China.

The full committee hearing can be watched here.

Publication Date: 1 Dec 2022

Publication Site: Hong Kong Watch

Milliman analysis: Corporate pension funding ratio surges to 112.8% in October thanks to rising discount rates

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/milliman-analysis-corporate-pension-funding-ratio-surges-to-112-8-in-october-thanks-to-rising-discount-rates-301669154.html

Excerpt:

Milliman, Inc., a premier global consulting and actuarial firm, today released the results of its latest Milliman 100 Pension Funding Index (PFI), which analyzes the 100 largest U.S. corporate pension plans.

During October, the Milliman 100 PFI funded ratio rose from 108.8% on September 30 to 112.8% on October 31, reaching a new high for the year. The change was driven by a 35-basis-point hike in the monthly discount rate. The PFI projected benefit obligation decreased to $1.266 trillion as the discount rate rose from 5.36% in September to 5.71% for October—the highest rate since March 2010. This increase helped to offset October’s flat investment returns of 0.21%, which lowered the Milliman 100 PFI asset value by $4 billion.

Publication Date: 4 Nov 2022

Publication Site: PRNEWSWIRE

Consumer Watchdog Calls on Insurance Commissioner Lara to Reject Allstate’s Job-Based Insurance Rate Discrimination, Adopt Regulations to Stop the Practice Industrywide

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/consumer-watchdog-calls-on-insurance-commissioner-lara-to-reject-allstates-job-based-insurance-rate-discrimination-adopt-regulations-to-stop-the-practice-industrywide-301631577.html

Additional: https://consumerwatchdog.org/sites/default/files/2022-09/2022-09-22%20Ltr%20to%20Commissioner%20re%20Allstate%20Auto%20Rate%20Application%20w%20Exhibits.pdf

Graphic:

Excerpt:

Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara should reject Allstate’s proposed $165 million auto insurance rate hike and its two-tiered job- and education-based discriminatory rating system, wrote Consumer Watchdog in a letter sent to the Commissioner today. The group called on the Commissioner to adopt regulations to require all insurance companies industrywide to rate Californians fairly, regardless of their job or education levels, as he promised to do nearly three years ago. Additionally, the group urged the Commissioner to notice a public hearing to determine the additional amounts Allstate owes its customers for premium overcharges during the COVID-19 pandemic, when most Californians were driving less.

Overall, the rate hike will impact over 900,000 Allstate policyholders, who face an average $167 annual premium increase.

Under Allstate’s proposed job-based rating plan, low-income workers such as custodians, construction workers, and grocery clerks will pay higher premiums than drivers in the company’s preferred “professional” occupations, including engineers with a college degree, who get an arbitrary 4% rate reduction.

Author(s): Consumer Watchdog

Publication Date: 22 Sept 2022

Publication Site: PRNewswire

DiNapoli: State pension fund adds $350 million to investment funds geared to New York companies

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.wnypapers.com/news/article/current/2022/06/14/151309/dinapoli-state-pension-fund-adds-350-million-to-investment-funds-geared-to-new-york-companies

Excerpt:

The New York State Common Retirement Fund is committing another $350 million to two investment funds through its in-state private equity investment program, fund trustee and state Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli recently announced.

“The in-state program has helped hundreds of New York businesses add and retain thousands of jobs and grow while achieving solid returns for the retirement system members and their beneficiaries that rely on the pension fund for their retirement security,” DiNapoli said. “We’ve committed more than $2 billion through this program to invest in New York state companies, and I’m proud to continue building on our successful track record.”

The fund will provide $50 million in additional capital to the Hudson River co-investment fund III, which it already invests in, and another $300 million in the new Hudson River co-investment fund IV. The funds make equity co-investments (investments alongside a lead sponsor) in growing New York-based companies.

Author(s): Thomas P. DiNapoli

Publication Date: 14 Jun 2022

Publication Site: Niagara Frontier Publications

CAS Releases Two Additional Papers in Race and Insurance Pricing Series

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.casact.org/article/cas-releases-two-additional-papers-race-and-insurance-pricing-series

Excerpt:

Arlington, VA – Two new research reports designed to guide the insurance industry toward proactive, quantitative solutions to identify, measure and address potential racial bias in insurance pricing were published by the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) today.

“These two new reports in our CAS Research Series on Race and Insurance Pricing continue to provide additional insight into industry discussions on this topic,” said Victor Carter-Bey, DM, CAS chief executive officer. “We hope with this series to serve as a thought leader and role model for other insurance organizations and corporations in promoting fairness and progress.”

As the professional society of actuaries specializing in property and casualty insurance, the CAS is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion in actuarial work. To this end, the Society is releasing a series of four CAS Research Papers, which support the CAS’s Approach to Race and Insurance Pricing. This approach was adopted by the CAS Board of Directors in December 2020 and includes four key areas of focus and goals: basic and continuing education, research, leadership and influence, and collaboration. Each paper in the series addresses a different aspect of race and insurance pricing as viewed through the lens of property and casualty insurance.

Two of the four reports in the CAS Research Paper Series on Race and Insurance Pricing, Understanding Potential Influences of Racial Bias on P&C Insurance: Four Rating Factors Explored and Defining Discrimination in Insurance, are being released today. Here is a more detailed description of the two reports published today:

Defining Discrimination in Insurance. This report examines terms that are being used in discussions around potential discrimination in insurance, including protected class, unfair discrimination, proxy discrimination, disparate impact, disparate treatment, and disproportionate impact. The paper provides historical and practical context for these terms and illustrates the inconsistencies in how different stakeholders define them. It also describes the potential impacts of these definitions on actuarial work.

Understanding Potential Influences of Racial Bias on P&C Insurance: Four Rating Factors Explored. The paper examines four commonly used rating factors to understand how the data underlying insurance pricing models may be impacted by racially biased policies and practices outside of insurance. The goal is to highlight the multi-dimensional impacts of systemic racial bias, as it may relate to insurance pricing. The four factors included in the report are: Credit-Based Insurance Score (CBIS), geographic location, homeownership and Motor Vehicle Records.

The other two reports, Methods for Quantifying Discriminatory Effects on Protected Classes in Insurance, and Approaches to Address Racial Bias in Financial Services: Lessons for the Insurance Industry, were released March 10, 2022 during a virtual briefing.  

These four research reports are just one way the CAS supports evolving actuarial practices and strengthens the knowledge of its members. The papers demonstrate the Society’s recognition that actuaries—who are responsible for setting insurance rates—must be a voice in an ever-evolving dialogue. The CAS understands that this work is critical to maintaining the Society and its members’ public trust.

Publication Date: 31 Mar 2022

Publication Site: CAS

Public Pension Systems Pared Costs and Assumptions in 2021, NCPERS Study Finds

Mary Pat Campbell

Link:https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220202005695/en/Public-Pension-Systems-Pared-Costs-and-Assumptions-in-2021-NCPERS-Study-Finds

Excerpt:

Pension systems said earnings on investments accounted for 68% of overall pension revenues in their most recent fiscal year. Employer contributions made up 23% of revenues, and employee contributions totaled 8%.

The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated efforts by public pension systems to expand their communications capabilities. In all, 78% offered live web conferences to members during 2021, up from 54% a year earlier.

Pension funds that participated in the survey in 2020 and 2021 reported that their funded levels rose to 72.3%, from 71.7%. Overall, pension funds reported a funded level of 74.7% for 2021. While funded levels are not as important to pensions’ sustainability as steady contributions are, the trend is positive.

The inflation assumption for the funds’ most recent fiscal year remained steady at 2.7%. These assumptions were in place in the midst of an acceleration in the rate of inflation, which reached 7% at the end of 2021, from 1.4% a year earlier, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Author(s): NCPERS

Publication Date: 2 Feb 2022

Publication Site: Businesswire