Facing the threat of budget cuts, Energy Star needs updates to continue saving money

Energy Star is a government program that helps consumers avoid $30 billion in energy costs every year. But the program is constantly threatened by administrative pressures and the need to be updated. Energy Star is an example of how the success and failure of an algorithm is not only dependent on its internal design or […]

Civil rights groups concerned about biases in recidivism reduction algorithm

An algorithm that was launched in June by the U.S. Department of Justice to predict the likelihood of recidivism for federal inmates is being criticized by civil rights activists of possible gender and racial bias. The Prisoner Assessment Tool Targeting Estimated Risk and Needs (PATTERN) algorithm is part of the First Step Act, a criminal […]

Nursing Home Compare: making sense of a crucial tool for the future

The Five-Star Quality Rating System is a convenient and widely used tool created by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to help people find good nursing homes, but it can be a subject of controversy when it comes to specific metrics that it uses.  In 1998, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services […]