Judge gives HHS deadline on Medicare appeals backlog

The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

In today’s Top Federal Headlines, a federal judge has ruled that the Department of Health and Human Services must have its Medicare appeals backlog nearly gone by 2021.

• A federal judge has given the Health and Human Services Department until 2021 to eliminate its backlog of Medicare claims appeals. This comes after a lawsuit from the American Hospital Association. HHS said as of April 2016, its Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals had more than 750,000 pending appeals, but can only get through 77,000 per year. (American Hospital Association)

• A group of senators wants the Office of Special Counsel to investigate members of President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team. Some transition officials allegedly asked the Energy Department for a list of federal employees who have worked on climate change policies. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and seven other senators wrote to the head of OSC, Carolyn Lerner. The senators believe the transition team’s request is politically motivated and violates merit system principles. (Sen. Ben Cardin)

• A conservative congressional caucus is taking aim at women in combat and clean energy in the Defense Department. The House Freedom Caucus released a list of regulations it would like President-elect Donald Trump to repeal in his first 100 days. Chief among them, they want Trump to halt requirements for DoD to buy alternative fuel sources. (Federal News Radio)

• President-elect Donald Trump has selected a member of the House Freedom Caucus for a post in his cabinet. Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) has been picked to head up the Office of Management and Budget. Mulvaney has been known as quite the budget hawk during his tenure in Congress. He routinely voted against increasing the government’s borrowing cap and pressing for major cuts to benefit programs as a way to balance the budget. He also introduced legislation to reduce the federal workforce back in 2011. (Federal News Radio)

• A new plan from the Defense Department has outlined how it plans to help men in the military who are sexually assaulted. The main point of the plan’s objectives is to encourage more men to come forward and report their sexual assault. Officials said the plan will start being implemented in the second quarter of 2017. (Department of Defense)

• The Homeland Security and Defense Departments have published a new white paper laying out how each of them would respond to a major attack on U.S. critical infrastructure. Leaders from both agencies say they wanted to help clear up confusion about their respective roles, which the White House tried to lay out in detail in a presidential policy directive earlier this year. In short, officials said DHS would have the lead role in coordinating deploying federal resources after a cyber incident, much like FEMA does for natural disasters. But it could call on DoD to perform its Defense Support to Civil Authorities role if civilian agencies and local officials are overwhelmed. DoD could also be called on by the president to counter a cyber attack that’s still in progress. (Department of Defense)

• People, funding and acquisition are the areas the incoming Trump administration should focus on to improve federal IT. Those are the topics that encompass the six recommendations the IT Alliance for Public Sector, a federal contractor industry association, offered to President-elect Donald Trump. Among the most poignant suggestions from ITAPS is for Congress to provide agencies with flexible funding models to buy technology. ITAPS also suggests that the new administration conduct a full review of all acquisition regulations to remove any barriers standing in the way of acquiring the best IT. (IT Alliance for Public Sector)

• NASA has finalized a rule requiring contractors with $10 million or more in NASA-owned property to submit monthly reports on the items. NASA said this is to ensure contractor-held property, plant, and equipment are represented in NASA’s financial statements more accurately. The rule takes effect Jan. 17, 2017. (Federal Register)

• The Office of Personnel Management will put out a quadrennial federal workforce review next year. OPM finalized a rewrite of its HR policies. The quadrennial review will look at human capital priorities for agencies and how the Chief Human Capital Officers Council can prepare and respond to them. Multiple reports are expected. The first one could be out mid-2017. (Federal Register)

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