Many government agencies, state and federal, have deployed a variety of algorithms to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Given that these automated systems can take a myriad of forms, investigating them can also require a variety of approaches. In this way, COVID-related algorithms show how challenging reporting on automated decision-making systems can be: just as government […]
Category Archives: Uncategorized
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 […]
Could CMS’ Fraud Prevention System be unfair?
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) uses the Fraud Prevention System (FPS) to detect improper Medicare payments by processing millions of fee-for-service claims every day. But the focus on monetary return might cause the system to focus on some fraudulent healthcare providers in lieu of others. FPS analyzes data related to Medicare fee-for-service […]
Welcome
Algorithmic decision-making systems (ADMs) now influence many facets of our lives. Whether it be in finance, employment, welfare management, romance, or dynamic pricing, these systems are practically ubiquitous throughout the public and private sectors. Operating at scale ADMs can impact large swaths of people—for better or worse. Algorithmic accountability reporting has emerged as a response, […]