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Reinvestment Act (reinvestment + act)
Kinds of Reinvestment Act Selected AbstractsEmergency Department Information System Adoption in the United StatesACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 5 2010Adam B. Landman MD Abstract Objectives:, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 incentivizes adoption of health care information technology (HIT) based on support for specific standards, policies, and features. Limited data have been published on national emergency department information systems (EDIS) adoption, and to our knowledge, no prior studies have considered functionality measures. This study determined current national estimates of EDIS adoption using both single-response rates of EDIS adoption and a novel feature-based definition and also identified emergency department (ED) characteristics associated with EDIS use. Methods:, The 2006 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, a nationally representative sample of ED visits that also surveyed participating EDs on EDIS, was used to estimate EDIS adoption. EDIS adoption rates were calculated using two definitions: 1) single-response,response to a single survey question as to whether the EDIS was complete, partial, or none; and 2) feature-based,based on the reported features supported by the EDIS, systems were categorized as fully functional, basic, other, or none. The relationship of EDIS adoption to specific ED characteristics such as facility type and location was also examined. Results:, Using the single-response classification, 16.1% of EDs had a complete EDIS, while 30.4% had a partial EDIS, and 53.5% had none. In contrast, using a feature-based categorization, 1.7% EDs had a fully functional EDIS, 12.3% had basic, 32.1% had other, and 53.9% had none. In multivariable analysis, urban EDs were significantly more likely to have a fully functional or basic EDIS than were rural EDs. Pediatric EDs were significantly more likely than general EDs to have other EDIS. Conclusions:, Despite more optimistic single-response estimates, fewer than 2% of our nation's EDs have a fully functional EDIS. EDs in urban areas and those specializing in the care of pediatric patients are more likely to support EDIS. Accurate and consistent EDIS adoption estimates are dependent on whether there are standardized EDIS definitions and classifications of features. To realize the potential value of EDIS for improved emergency care, we need to better understand the extent and correlates of the diffusion of this technology and increase emergency medicine engagement in national HIT policy-making. Academic Emergency Medicine 2010; 17:536,544 © 2010 by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine [source] Comparative Effectiveness Research Priorities at Federal Agencies: The View from the Department of Veterans Affairs, National Institute on Aging, and Agency for Healthcare Research and QualityJOURNAL OF AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY, Issue 6 2010Timothy J. O'Leary MD In the last year, attention has been focused on translating federally sponsored health research into better health for Americans. Since the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) on February 17, 2009, ARRA funds to support Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) have increased this focus. A large proportion of topical areas of interest in CER affects the older segment of the population. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the National Institute on Aging (NIA), and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) have supported robust research portfolios focused on aging populations that meet the varying definitions of CER. This short article briefly describes the research missions of the AHRQ, NIA, and VA. The various definitions of CER as the Congressional Budget Office, the Institute of Medicine, and the ARRA-established Federal Coordinating Council have put forward, as well as important topics for which CER is particularly needed, are then reviewed. Finally, approaches in which the three agencies support CER involving the aging population are set forth and opportunities for future CER research outlined. [source] Impact of the Community Reinvestment Act on New Business Start-Ups and Economic Growth in Local Markets,JOURNAL OF SMALL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2009Nada Kobeissi Economic growth in the United States has historically bypassed many minorities and low-income communities. Some researchers and community advocates assert that the deterioration of these communities is in part caused by financial institutions' redlining and neglect. To rectify the situation, the government introduced the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) for the purpose of encouraging banks and saving institutions to become more socially responsible and help meet the credit needs of communities in which they are located. The CRA was the government's response to bank lending discrimination. However, when passing the Act, Congress was equally concerned with reversing or at least halting disinvestment from inner-city communities and in turn revitalizing local economies. Many believe that the availability of credit to establish, refinance, and improve small businesses is critical to the well-being of local communities. Therefore, through the provision of small business loans, the CRA could be envisioned as a catalyst toward achieving that goal. Thus the aim of this paper is to investigate potential relationship between banks' CRA lending activities, and new business start-ups and economic growth in local markets. The paper proposes that new start-ups will have spillover effects that will consequently contribute to community development. After controlling for several potential variables that could have an impact on business start-ups and community developments, the study found a strong positive effect. Beside its social and economic implications, the study also considered policy implications associated with the CRA regulation as a welfare improving initiative in low-income communities. It offers ground for certain government intervention in the loan market. [source] OUT OF THE GOODNESS OF THEIR HEARTS?JOURNAL OF URBAN AFFAIRS, Issue 1 2008REGULATORY AND REGIONAL IMPACTS ON BANK INVESTMENT IN HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT IN THE UNITED STATES ABSTRACT:,Banks are considered key actors in affordable housing and community development in the United States. Their involvement in such activities may be due partly to their dependence on economic rents generated from development. In the United States, however, banks are encouraged to support such activities by the federal 1977 Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). I examine how different factors explain the CRA-qualified investments by banks. Qualified investments are essentially nondebt financial resources provided as an equity investment or grant with a community development purpose. I find that the identity of the regulator (the United States has four banking regulators) has a major impact on the level of qualified investments. Other things equal, a difference in regulators can cause a bank's qualified investments to more than double. Besides suggesting that some regulators may be enforcing a major portion of CRA regulations more vigorously than others, this also suggests that the CRA plays a major role in bank investment in community development. This has policy implications not just in the United States but also in other countries that might consider replicating the CRA. [source] Budget Deficits in the States: VirginiaPUBLIC BUDGETING AND FINANCE, Issue 1 2010JAMES K. CONANT We are all faced with truly, truly dreadful choices. (Delegate Kristen Amundsen, The Washington Post, December 17, 2008) The stimulus package is our salvation. (Delegate Kenneth R. Plum, Richmond Times Dispatch, March 1, 2009) For more than a decade, Virginia has won praise as one of the nation's best-managed states. Nevertheless, Virginia's elected officials have had a very difficult time dealing with the dramatic effects that the current recession, which began in December of 2007, has had on state general fund revenues and thus on the state's general fund budget. For the FY 2008,2010 biennium, revenues fell approximately $5 billion, or 14 percent, below the revenue estimates published in December of 2006. As estimated revenues for the biennium were falling, however, the state was faced with additional costs for the biennium, the largest of which was the $1 billion required to meet the state's K-12 standards of quality. Although Virginia's lawmakers were able to draw on the state's budget stabilization fund and other reserves to offset some of the lost revenue, they had to repeatedly cut state spending in order to retain structural balance. The full effects of those cuts were temporarily cushioned during the 2008,2010 biennium, however, by funds contained in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. [source] Do CRA Agreements Influence Lending Patterns?REAL ESTATE ECONOMICS, Issue 1 2003Raphael W. Bostic This article considers the broader impact of Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) agreements,bank pledges to extend a certain volume of lending to targeted groups and communities,by examining whether they are associated with changes in lending to lower,income and minority communities in the markets where they are initiated. We find the number of newly initiated CRA agreements in a county to be associated with significant increases in CRA, minority and overall conventional mortgage lending in a county over a three,year period. The results are consistent with the view that the increases in lending represent new lending, with some evidence suggesting that the increases in lending are relatively short,lived. Overall, the results are consistent with the notion that lenders view CRA agreements as a form of insurance against the potentially large and unknown costs associated with fair lending violations, poor CRA performance ratings and adverse publicity from CRA,related protests of mergers or other applications. The results are also consistent with the view that the effectiveness of CRA agreements in increasing lending activity is ultimately determined by the persistence and sophistication of community groups in monitoring compliance with CRA agreements. [source] Online Banking and the Community Reinvestment ActBUSINESS AND SOCIETY REVIEW, Issue 2 2006DANIEL D. SINGER First page of article [source] | |||||||||||||