Resources

Accountability and transparency resources on the web are growing!

First, Transparency International is the leading global NGO devoted to combating corruption. See especially the annual TI Global Corruption Report andTI Corruption Perceptions Index. The TI Anticorruption Handbook and Source Book 2000 are other helpful resources.

Another great anti-corruption web site is the U4 Anti-corruption Resource Centre. Operated by the Chr. Michelsen Institute in Bergen , Norway , the resource centre is also supported by Transparency International and donor agencies from Germany , the Netherlands , Norway , Sweden , the United Kingdom , and Canada . The health related pages can be viewed online or downloaded in .pdf form.

The U.K. Department for International Development (DFID) has created a Medicines Transparency Alliance which contains many presentations, tools, and other links to resources on good governance and transparency in pharmaceuticals management.  BU Assistant Professor Brenda Waning and Adjunct Professor Richard Laing have been very involved in the MeTA work, especially regarding pricing transparency.

Each tool and practice described on the World Bank Empowerment Web Site includes a brief description, with the full text and related websites/documents as attachments. Examples of tools are Citizen Report Cards, Public Expenditure Tracking Survets(PETS), and Participatory Budgeting. The World Bank also hosts specific pages related to Anti-Corruption research and tools. Dr.Maureen Lewis, formerly with the Bank, is now working with the Center for Global Development. Maureen’s research deals with issues of good governance and transparency, including her recent working paper on corruption and health. Dr. William Savedoff, formerly with PAHO and now a Principal with Social Insight, so has conducted research and written articles about corruption and health.

Several NGO web sites are dedicated to reducing harm from misleading drug promotion and promoting greater transparency in physician-pharma interactions. These include Healthy Skepticism, No Free Lunch, and the WHO-developed Drug Promotion Database. The sites provide links to current news, advocacy position papers and advice, and research. You can also buy No Free Lunch T-shirts and learn about the Pen Amnesty program.

Public Citizen is a consumer advocacy group formed by Ralph Nadar dedicated to "openness and democratic accountability in government." The Health Research Group focuses on health-related issues such as drug promotion and safety information, product recalls, public information about disciplinary actions against doctors, and critiques of remarks by public officials. Public Citizen's recent research on conflict of interest disclosure and voting patterns at the FDA appeared in the April 26, 2006 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The National Committee for Quality Assurance "stands for accountability" in health care. A recent initiative has been to use accreditation data on performance to create report cards for health plans and behavioral health organizations. The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) has also created a guide to the different HMO report cards for measuring health care quality, while the Ontario Hospital Association and the Government of Ontario have collaborated on Hospital Report Cards as well.


Within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of the Inspector General works on issues related to Medicare and Medicaid fraud and abuse.