Australian environmental and natural resource policy – from the Natural Heritage Trust to Caring for our Country

The Natural Heritage Trust and the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality were major national policies focused on land and water degradation and nature conservation in Australia. These programs fell a long way short of achieving their stated goals. It is proposed that to be able to spend their considerable public funds in cost effective ways, they would have needed a number of particular characteristics. Among other things, they needed to prioritise investments well, consistent with an appropriate role of government, and based on analyses that integrated good quality bio-physical and socio-economic information. They needed to select policy mechanisms that would be appropriate for the circumstances. The incentives created by program rules and procedures should have encouraged environmental managers responsible for program delivery to pursue environmental outcomes cost-effectively. However, the programs did not satisfy these criteria. Prospects for improving matters in the new national program, Caring for our Country, are discussed. It will be difficult to deliver outcomes cost-effectively in the new program for reasons that include capacity constraints in government agencies, time pressures on policy development, and political priorities of governments.policy evaluation, policy mechanism choice, policy implementation,

Health technology assessment of medical devices in europe: processes, practices, and methods

Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.Objectives: To review and compare current Health Technology Assessment (HTA) activities for medical devices (MDs) across European HTA institutions. Methods: A comprehensive approach was adopted to identify institutions involved in HTA in European countries. We systematically searched institutional Web sites and other online sources by using a structured tool to extract information on the role and link to decision making, structure, scope, process, methodological approach, and available HTA reports for each included institution. Results: Information was obtained from eighty-four institutions, forty-seven of which were analyzed. Fifty-four methodological documents from twenty-three agencies in eighteen countries were identified. Only five agencies had separate documents for the assessment of MDs. A few agencies made separate provisions for the assessment of MDs in their general methods. The amount of publicly available HTA reports on MDs varied by device category and agency remit. Conclusions: Despite growing consensus on their importance and international initiatives, such as the EUnetHTA Core Model®, specific tools for the assessment of MDs are rarely developed and implemented at the national level. Separate additional signposts incorporated in existing general methods guides may be sufficient for the evaluation of MDs.EC/FP7/305983/EU/Advancing and strengthening the methodological tools and practices relating to the application and implementation of Health Technology Assessment (HTA)/ADVANCE_HT

Responding to Foreclosures in Cuyahoga County 2014 Update: Ninth Annual Report January 1 - December 31, 2014

The Levin College of Urban Affairs has been the evaluation partner for the Cuyahoga County Foreclosure Prevention Program (CCFPP) since the program was adopted in 2006. This report is an update to the County for 2014. The evaluation provides metrics to track progress and provides feedback about the program that can be used to improve and adapt it to meet the rapidly changing state and national context surrounding foreclosures. Since consistent tracking began in 2009, the Cuyahoga County foreclosure prevention program has served a total of 23,002 homeowners at the five participating counseling agencies. In 2014 alone, 2,751 households were counseled. More than half (51%) of all homeowners that have completed counseling through the program have had a successful outcome. That is, they have reached an agreement with their lender that enables them to stay in their home or, if they choose, they are able to transfer title through a short sale or other means to another individual owner and move to a more affordable home. As noted in previous reports, Cuyahoga County was one of the first places in the country to develop a comprehensive response to the foreclosure crisis. The County’s consistent role in funding, administering and evaluating the program over nine years has created a very effective system of agencies and programs, including foreclosure mediation, that have helped homeowners prevent foreclosure and contributed to stabilizing the housing market