Tell Me Something Good

By Michael Friedrich, Arnold Ventures contributor

A new report outlining key research questions on Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs) will help states make these laws more effective — and keep communities safe from firearm violence.
 

What’s Happening: Through the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the federal government is funding states to test implementation of ERPOs and evaluate their effectiveness. Professor April Zeoli of Michigan State University recently released a report to guide research on ERPOs, and she is leading a six-state study on these laws. We spoke with Zeoli about the firearm violence and the questions raised in her new report.
 

Why it Matters: The deadly crises of mass shootings, suicides, and intimate partner homicides demand a response that gets firearms out of the hands of people who threaten violence. “ERPOs are a promising intervention,” says Zeoili, “but they’re relatively new tools.” Her report will help researchers determine the effectiveness of ERPOs and guide critical questions about how they’re being implemented — including concerns around community partnership, equity, and due process.
 

What’s Next: With unprecedented federal support for ERPOs, more states may adopt these laws, and researchers across the country will be analyzing data to find out how they’re working and whether they reduce violence.
 

By Evan Mintz, director of communications
 

In 2015, a University of Cincinnati campus police officer fatally shot Samuel DuBose, an unarmed Black man, during a traffic stop. Soon after, Dr. Robin Engel, a professor of criminal justice at the university at the time, was tasked with reforming the campus police department. But when it came to identifying proven ways to improve police accountability and oversight in her own backyard, she realized there was little rigorous research to guide the way.
 

“The cupboard was bare,” Engel said.
 

What's Happening: The need for more research in the field of policing accountability was a key focus of a conversation between Walter Katz, AV vice president of criminal justice, and Engel, senior vice president of the National Policing Institute, at the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE) annual conference in Fort Worth this month.
 

Why it Matters: The deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and too many others at the hands of police in 2020 sparked a nationwide call for civil rights and accountable policing. However, many of the go-to policy responses are based on personal experience and anecdotes rather than research.
 

Too many reform efforts rely on “check-the-box” style policies, Engel said, such as additional trainings that have no track record for actual results.
 

What's Next: Both Katz and Engel provided the NACOLE audience with practical tips on creating tools for oversight agencies and police departments to help build the body of evidence around police accountability. For example, Engel encouraged the audience to look for local partners at universities or through the National Policing Institute as well as support from philanthropic organizations, which are able to provide responsive funding tailored to more specific research questions.
 

By Juliana Keeping, communications manager
 

Nonprofit hospitals don’t operate much differently than their for-profit counterparts and are a huge part of the problem when it comes to driving up the cost of care, an investigation published this week in The New York Times underscored. (free link)
 

Why it Matters: More than half of the nation’s 5,000 hospitals are nonprofits. They receive billions in tax breaks to provide community benefits and charge privately insured patients excessively high prices for care. AV-funded research cited in The New York Times piece includes an analysis of nonprofit financial records by Ge Bai, a professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, that suggests these hospitals’ efforts to provide charity care are not aligned with their favorable tax treatment. 
 

What’s Next: This is just the latest in a spate of headlines that detail aggressive maneuvers by hospitals to collect payments — from garnishing patient wages in New York to suing patients in North Carolina. In light of these behaviors, it’s more important than ever for policymakers to consider efforts that both protect patients and lower health care costs. The bipartisan No Surprises Act, which went into effect in early 2022, is an important first step in taking on these challenges. 
 

The law seeks to protect consumers from the indefensible practice of surprise medical billing while also reducing health care costs, and has prevented consumers from receiving more than 2 million surprise bills since it went into effect. As it was implemented, the law and accompanying regulations have been attacked in court by powerful lobbies representing doctors and hospitals, with the latest suit challenging the final regulations implementing the law. If successful, the lawsuits could undermine the savings Congress expected when the law was enacted. AV is encouraging the Administration to continue to strongly implement the law in a manner that protects patients and lowers health care costs.

Read the New York Times story >
 

Related: The New York Times also detailed how a nonprofit hospital chain used its struggling location in a predominantly Black Virginia neighborhood to turn huge profits. The chain was “basically laundering money through this poor hospital to its wealthy outposts.” (free link)

Criminal Justice

• Fines and fees make up a small share of state and local revenue but can be devastating for low-income residents. Our grantee Tax Policy Center has a new interactive data feature showing what it would take for states to wipe away fines and fees for a year.
   
• A shocking new report from the U.S. Department of Justice reveals the federal government has little idea how many Americans die behind bars each year and doesn't have a serious plan to collect this legally required information, writes Lars Trautman, national director of Right on Crime, in an op-ed in The Hill. 
  
  Related: 4 Takeaways from a Senate Hearing on Uncounted Deaths in America’s Prisons and Jails
   
• David Safavian, director of the American Conservative Union Foundation's Nolan Center for Justice, wrote an op-ed in The Oklahoman calling on Sooner State politicians to heed a new survey that found that Oklahoma voters support criminal justice reforms to reduce the number of people behind bars in their state. 
  
  Related: A Republican-led coalition in Oklahoma spearheaded a successful campaign to shrink the prison population, improve reintegration, and expand diversion courts.
   
• In the Journal of the American Medical Association, Andrew Morral and Rosanna Smart of RAND Corporation highlight how new support for research will help clarify many of the unanswered questions about firearm violence and prevention. 
  
  Related: Morral and Smart had an op-ed in Science Magazine this week about the need for better data collection to help reduce violent crime.

Health Care

• Kaiser Health News' Noam Levey reviews hospital finances in the country's 306 hospital markets and finds several of the most profitable markets also have some of the highest levels of patient debt. “Nationwide, many hospitals have grown wealthy, spending lavishly on advertising, team sponsorships, and even spas, while patients are squeezed by skyrocketing medical prices and rising deductibles,” Levey reports.

• Student debt cancellation news keeps coming. The Congressional Budget Office estimates it will cost approximately $400 billion — possibly more. The White House estimates 42.4 million borrowers will qualify for some relief. And Sen. Tom Cotton introduced a bill to lower the cost of tuition and hold colleges more responsible for loans they encourage students to take.
   
• In Slate, Kevin Carey of New America proposes the federal government split its one-size-fits-all student loan system into three: one for short-term, job-focused credentials; one for traditional undergraduate degrees; and one for graduate and professional school.
   
• Douglas Harris of the Brookings Institution outlines the legal, rhetorical, and political impacts of Biden’s debt forgiveness plan. 
   
• In his op-ed in The Hill, Jared Bass of Center for American Progress argues that only Congress can tackle the root causes of high tuition and low-quality institutions and programs. Bass recommends Congress double the Pell grant, have institutions match financial aid funding, and better protect students and taxpayers via the gainful employment rule. 
   
• Who’s accrediting the school accreditors? NACIQI, that’s who, and Third Way recaps the group’s last meeting (that’s the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity). As school accreditation is directly tied to access to federal student loan dollars, accountability not only matters, it costs (see above on student debt). 
   
• Online program management companies (OPMs) are showing signs of struggle, reports HigherEd Dive, with revenue declines, employee layoffs, and the full dissolution of top OPMs. 
   

• Health Affairs argues that vague language around the Affordable Care Act’s requirement to provide “recommended preventive services” with no cost-sharing for the insured can undermine contraceptive care and access. Health care attorneys also find them confusing.
   
• Two studies by Guttmacher Institute find that state policies limit patient access to reproductive health care, according to Patient Engagement HIT.
   
• Direct Relief outlines the many barriers to contraceptive access as the need increases.

• In The Washington Post, former AV Vice President Jon Baron says that until states like Maryland begin implementing social programs with an evidence base, they can expect the same thing: money going into programs that show little change over time. (free link)

• AV is proud to support the nonprofit news outlets recently recognized for producing journalism that is driving change. Read their work here. Congratulations to all.

• In a new video, The Economist provides a high-quality discussion about the spike in U.S. murder rates, what experts identify as potential causes, and policies that could help reduce violence — with an especially worthwhile look at the role of violence interrupters who can bridge the gap between community and police. 

• Take time to watch this minute-long explainer video by RAND Corporation that highlights the research around safe storage of firearms, and how best practices can help prevent injuries and save lives. 
   

• Here's a humorous take on why more states are eliminating cash bail. Bonus points if you can identify the states by costume alone.

• As more and more Americans begin to doubt whether the cost of higher education is worth the credential, AV Higher Education Fellow Clare McCann discusses how its value is determined at state and federal levels with Doug Lederman on Inside Higher Ed’s podcast The Key.
   

• Listen to AV grantee Eric T. Roberts on A Health Podyssey, a podcast by Health Affairs, to learn how integrated care programs can support the more than 12 million low-income seniors and people with disabilities.

• Nineties kids will know: Iconic rapper Coolio has died. Read about his musical impact in Rolling Stone.
   
• Can't get enough of the DART asteroid collision? Fresh images reveal the fireworks from NASA's mind-blowing experiment.
   
• Hear Lizzo play a crystal flute that belonged to James Madison, considered the “Father of the Constitution.” It all started with a fascinating history lesson.
   
• A new game for logophiles: Words Against Strangers.