Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue gave an interesting interview to Federal News Radio recently. You can hear the interview online. Some points I took away:
- Astrue hopes to open additional new Teleservice Centers in coming years.
- Astrue has a longstanding belief that it is a bad idea to contract out customer service. That was his position when working for a drug manufacturer and it remains his position at Social Security.
- Astrue has listened in on calls to teleservice centers and was surprised at the range of questions asked.
- No site has been selected for the new data center. He hopes that the General Services Administration (GSA) will select that site by early next year. He gave no clue on where it will be.
I am not big fan of TSC's having had to clean up their messes on PE issues so many times it makes my eyes cross to remember. Bad information. Missed claims protective filings. YadaYada. Before TSC people come after me, please bear in mind that my shop had no TSC coverage. We answered our own phones and our staffing was nicked to provide for our regions TSC staffing. What we got was leads, inquiries that should have been stopped at the TSR level, etc. So, jaded view, no doubt. YMMV. Also, appts took too long and I would rather handle some of the claims by walk-in.
ReplyDeleteBut, TSC's are centralized components, not the sort of Mom and Pop FO service I'm used to. They're big buildings, with lots of employees, and all kinds of large meeting rooms--you know, real government operations. Whereas out in the smaller FO's it's a much less impressive looking scene. No microphones. There you have it. Says it all.