Federal Manager's Daily Report: Wednesday, December 22, 2004 FEDweek is the largest information resource in the federal government with now over one million weekly readers. To Subscribe, Go to http://www.fedweek.com/subscribepopup.htm *********************************************************** Valued Added Service to Our Readers:
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GAO Calls for More Accurate Responses in Medicare Help Line A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for more accurate responses from the 1-800-Medicare help line, implemented in 1999 to provide information about program eligibility, enrollment and benefits. It said the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services should "revise procedures so that calls are not transferred to other contractors that are closed, assess current scripts and pretest new and revised scripts to ensure that they are understandable, provide more testing of [the ability of call center reps] to accurately answer questions and use the results to target training efforts as needed, and monitor the accuracy rate for each frequently asked question and use the results to modify scripts or provide training, if necessary." Of the 420 calls GAO placed to the help line, 61 percent were accurate, 29 percent were inaccurate and another 10 percent went unanswered, according to GAO-05-130. It said many of the inaccurate responses GAO received resulted from the ineffective use of the answer scripts, and that "CMS and its contractor do not routinely pretest the scripts to ensure that they are understandable to CSRs or potential callers." 2. OPM Issues Updated Guidelines for Terrorist-Suspect List The Office of Personnel Management has issued guidelines for the 2005 application for the Combined Federal Campaign through which organizations may receive employee payroll contributions. Organizations must certify that they do not "knowingly employ individuals or contribute funds to individuals or organizations who appear on government lists of persons or entities associated with terrorist activities or support, or whose assets are otherwise blocked by the Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control," as required under executive order 13224, said OPM. It said following that order, Treasury blocked assets from going to three charities allegedly tied to terrorist entities, and following inquires from Arab-American and Muslim organizations OPM developed the guidance that is also intended to block funds to organizations allegedly tied to illegal money laundering. A number of organizations receiving funds through the campaign have filed for an injunction to stop OPM from requiring them to certify that none of their employees are on classified lists of names compiled by agencies with security responsibilities -- both because of the difficulty implementing the policy and because many believe it is illegal or a violation of the privacy of their clients and employees. 3. Scrutiny of IT Pay in Progress The Office of Personnel Management says it is continuing to study pay-setting for information technology employees, although concluding that no changes could be made in time for the January 2005 pay adjustments. OPM has told agencies that the "only viable option for calendar year 2005 is to increase IT special rates by the same percentage as the general schedule across-the-board increase." That most likely will be 2.5 percent. Said OPM director Kay Coles James in announcing that decision: "I continue to believe it is time for the federal human resources community to take a more strategic view and approach to compensation matters. Where we have administrative flexibility in setting pay levels, we should exercise that flexibility to maximize the accomplishment of mission priorities and to make more effective use of taxpayer dollars, subject to applicable budget constraints. "Accordingly, I believe a strategic analysis of IT special rates remains an important task. I have directed my staff to continue with the planned work to collect information related to the recruitment, retention, and pay of IT employees. Office of Personnel Management staff will proceed to work with your staffs to collect the necessary information and be prepared to present a report on its findings to the Chief Human Capital Officers Council by September30 of next year." Published by FEDweek 11541 Nuckols Rd. Suite D Glen Allen, VA 23059 (804) 288-5321 Website: http://www.fedweek.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are subscribed to federalmanagersdailyreport as [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe, send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
