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A quiet but revolutionary change is happening in the way the government spends a trillion dollars a year for health care. Traditional fee-for-service is giving way to payment for quality and outcomes. It's one of several innovations overseen by Health and Human Services and its IDEA Lab. Greg Downing, executive director for innovation at HHS explains to the Federal Drive with Tom Temin why innovation is prominent on the department's strategic plan.
The Pentagon’s acting inspector general tells Congress budget shortfalls are to blame for delays in investigating whistleblower reprisal claims. Federal News Radio’s Jared Serbu reports on Pentagon Solutions that the investigations took an average of about 300 days last year — much longer than the guidelines in federal law.
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said he plans to introduce new recommendations for reforming and reorganizing DHS. The report is intended as a series of suggestions for the next administration. McCaul also said he will introduce a plan to consolidate the 100 congressional committees that have jurisdiction and oversight on the department.
The House Small Business Committee had a number of bones to pick with the Small Business Association’s HUBZone program, including the agency's decision to ignore a certain provision in the program's requirements.
Whether there's a presidential transition or not, agency leaders need to maintain a respectful and open dialogue with their Office of Inspector General.
For incoming politicals of the new administration, building a good working relationship with their inspector general is an opportunity to avoid early pitfalls in getting acclimated and improve the effectiveness of their organizations over the coming years.
The House Veterans Affairs Committee also discussed several of the recommendations from the VA Commission on Care's report. Lawmakers generally agreed with the majority of the 18 suggestions, but issues of leadership at the Veterans Health Administration will likely be the sticking point in future debates over VA transformation.
Outdated IT infrastructure and a deficit of skilled cyber workers are just some of the challenges faces the federal government as it goes to battle in the ongoing cyber war.
Nothing can be more irritating and, at the same time, useful as unvarnished customer feedback. With the summer travel season over, citizens are taking to the internet to vent about experiences they've had at airports, in passport lines, or visiting national parks. Smart managers are seeing bad reports as good thing. Joining Federal Drive with Tom Temin with more, Mallory Barg Bulman, research director at the Partnership for Public Service.
The Obama administration said it agreed with most of the VA Commission on Care's recommendations to improve veterans health care, adding that the department had started efforts to implement many of them already. President Barack Obama said he disagreed with three of the 18 suggestions.
Agencies relied on 20 out of 105 different hiring authorities to fill the majority of open positions in 2014, the Government Accountability Office said. And neither OPM nor individual agencies are using the hiring data they already collect to measure whether these authorities are working.
A Commerce Department Inspector General report revealed that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office paid $18.3 million over a 15-month period to employees who may have falsely reported their time and attendance.
Not only is DoD largely unable to detect misuse of the cards on its own, officials responded slowly, inadequately or not at all even after auditors pointed out thousands of specific, glaring examples of misconduct involving casino gambling and adult entertainment.
A new report from the Social Security Administration’s inspector general found 35 deceased federal beneficiaries were paid $1.7 million between 1991 and 2013.