Miscellaneous

The definition of “meaningful use” of electronic health records proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services(CMS)should be simplified, according to comments submitted to CMS by TPI senior fellow Arlene Holen. The complex and evolving definition of meaningful use could slow investment in electronic systems, contrary to the intent of the $14 billion to $27 billion in federal incentive payments to health care providers in the economic stimulus legislation, Holen asserted.

The Technology Policy Institute announced today that Amy Smorodin will join the organization as Vice President for Communications and External Relations effective March 15.

British MP Ian Liddell-Grainger will present a new bi-partisan report of the All-Party Parliamentary Taxation Group that examines the UK’s experience with “return-free” tax filing, under which the tax authority prepares individuals’ income tax returns. Mr. Liddell-Grainger’s presentation will be discussed by former Congressman Bill Frenzel, George Washington University economist Joseph Cordes, and Brookings economist William Gale. Frenzel, currently a Guest Scholar at the Brookings Institution, was ranking minority member on the House Budget Committee and a member of the President’s Advisory Panel on Tax Reform during 2005. Cordes has held senior positions at both the Treasury Department and the CBO. Gale is co-director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

Representative Cliff Stearns (R-Fl) will deliver opening remarks at TPI’s July 24th event on Information and Privacy: What are the Tradeoffs? Stearns, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet, has been in a leader on online privacy issues for many years.

The universal service program is coming under increasing pressure: expenditures for old-fashioned voice service, especially in the high-cost fund, are growing rapidly even as many policymakers are calling for the fund to also include broadband. Even without including broadband, consumers are already paying higher taxes for these increased expenditures. This seminar will address questions of how to reform the fund, including ways of controlling growth in the high-cost fund, such as reverse auctions, and how to incorporate broadband in an efficient and equitable manner.

Online advertising uses customer information to target messages to consumers’ interests. The resulting advertising revenues support an array of innovative new online services, which consumers can often use for free. But as the use of information online has increased, so have concerns about privacy. More privacy, however, would mean less information, less valuable advertising, and thus fewer resources available for producing new low-priced services. It is this tradeoff that Congress needs to take into account as it considers new privacy legislation. TPI has assembled a group of experts to discuss how policy makers should address the tradeoffs inherent in privacy policy.

The Obama Administration is increasingly looking at approaches other countries have taken as it continues to formulate its broadband strategy. This Congressional Seminar will address key questions of how the U.S. broadband market is developing, how competition in the U.S. compares to elsewhere, and how various policy prescriptions, such as open access and functional separation, would be likely to affect investment.