Tuesday federal headlines – May 5, 2015

The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on Federal News Radio each day. It is designed to give FederalNewsRadio.com reade...

The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on the Federal Drive and In Depth radio shows each day. Our headlines are updated twice per day — once in the morning and once in the afternoon — with the latest news affecting federal employees and contractors.

  • The Department of Health and Human Services saved nearly $400 million in Medicare payments over the last two years using a new payment model. That’s according to an evaluation done by a panel of independent actuaries. The analysis was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. HHS said the new payment model cut costs by $300 per patient. The program is called Pioneer ACO, which stands for accountable care organization; 18 of them participated. The program lets qualified health care providers participate in a payment incentive model different from the one traditionally used by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell said Pioneer ACO proves Medicare can be expanded to more Americans without driving costs out of control. (HHS)
  • The Office of Personnel Management is getting help managing its three major retirement and disability systems. It’s establishing an advisory panel known as the Board of Actuaries of the Civil Services Retirement System. It will make recommendations on issues affecting not only CSRS but also the Federal Employees Retirement System and the Civil Service Retirement and Disability System. The board will give annual reports on the long-term financial health of the systems. Agency heads will be able to appeal to the board on excessive FERS payments. OPM’s senior actuary Greg Kissel will represent the government on the board. Director Katherine Archuleta will appoint three outside members. They must be professional actuaries. (Federal News Radio)
  • A new bill would make prescription drugs cheaper for those covered by the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) introduced the bill. It would change contracting requirements for prescription drugs. Right now, FEHBP is planning to contract with pharmacy benefit managers. They will act as middlemen to negotiate prices with drug companies. The new law gives the Office of Personnel Management more oversight over pharmacy managers. They’ll have to return any rebates or discounts back to FEHBP. The National Treasury Employees Union said it supports Lynch’s bill. (NTEU)
  • The backlog of Freedom of Information Act requests grew by 70 percent last year. It was the second year of growth in a row. The Justice Department’s Office of Information Policy reports the backlog now stands at 160,000, up from 96,000 a year ago. The unfulfilled requests are not spread evenly across the government. Justice said 29 agencies have no backlog, and 59 have fewer than 10. The worst culprit is the Homeland Security Department, with more than 103,000 backlogged FOIA requests. State, the National Archives, Defense, Health and Human Services and Justice itself account for the rest. NARA has the oldest pending FOIA request, dating back to 1993. (Federal News Radio)
  • President Barack Obama nominated Marine Corp Commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. When confirmed, he’ll succeed retiring Army Gen. Martin Dempsey. Dunford rose rapidly through the ranks after serving as a combat commander in Iraq. He led the Marine Corps’ Fifth Regimental Combat Team during the 2003 invasion. There, Dunford acquired the nickname Fighting Joe. He became Commandant in October. Obama tapped Air Force Gen. Paul Selva as vice chairman. Selva is head of Transportation Command. He’s logged more than 3,000 hours flying transport and refueling aircraft. (Federal News Radio)
  • The Defense Department approved 23 cloud providers to host some of the agency’s data. The cloud products already meet the moderate security requirements under the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, or FedRAMP. DoD will use the cloud to store what it calls level two data. That’s information that’s already cleared for public release, or only needs basic security. IT officials who want to use the cloud services will still have to give final approval. Some of the cloud services include AT&T, IBM Smart Cloud, Oracle and Treasury Workplace.gov Cloud. (Federal News Radio )
  • A bipartisan bill would increase oversight of the Homeland Security Department’s acquisition process. Sponsors of the bill include Reps. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), Mike McCaul (R-Texas), Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.). The bill gives DHS’ chief acquisition officer authority to approve, modify or cancel major acquisition programs, as needed. It also requires each acquisition program to have a baseline document and the Acquisition Review Board has to approve and validate the document. That includes cost, schedule and the main performance goals. The bill encourages DHS to streamline programs and eliminate duplication. (House Homeland Security Committee)
  • The Senate confirmed Willie May as director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. He’s been serving as acting director since last June and has worked at NIST for more than 40 years. May has encouraged agencies to adopt NIST’s cybersecurity framework, to manage cyber threats and risks. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker said she’s confident in May’s leadership and looks forward to working with him and the NIST team. (Commerce Dept. )

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