One Down

From EM-09078 issued by Social Security last Friday:

Republic Bank and Trust (RBT) has notified SSA that it is discontinuing its Currency Connection Direct Deposit program. The program solicited SSA beneficiaries to have their payments deposited into an RBT master account, then distributed to various sub-accounts (check cashing services or other businesses). SSA has approximately 50,000 Title II and Title XVI beneficiaries that need to make alternative payment arrangements based on this change.

Now, if we could get rid of Allsup's ability to "Withdraw overpayment funds directly from claimant’s bank account using our patented electronic process."

New Office In NC

From the Raleigh News and Observer:

The Social Security Administration will employ about 200 people at a new site in Research Triangle Park [North Carolina] that will act as the agency's headquarters in the Durham area.

Highwoods Properties announced last week that the SSA had leased 68,000 square feet of office space in its Pamlico office building. ...

A spokesperson for the SSA said the agency has been hiring people for the headquarters since 2008 and will continue to fill positions locally and through relocations. The RTP office will provide IT and administrative services for the SSA.

This is in my backyard. This sounds awfully large for an area supervisor office, but maybe I don't know just how big those are. Can anyone enlighten me as to what this is for?

Department Of Justice?

From American Medical News:

After what it called a successful year testing the National Health Information Network with select hospital systems and regional health information exchanges, the Social Security Administration said its next step will be to exchange data with the Dept. of Veterans Affairs and the Dept. of Justice. ...

The exchange would be an extension to earlier testing the SSA did with MedVirginia, a regional health information organization serving Virginia, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

Jim Borland, special adviser for health information technology for the SSA, said in June that since the exchange with MedVirginia started in February, the organization reduced the average time it takes to process disability applications from 83 to 32 days. In some cases, applications were received and processed the same day.

NADE Newsletter Out

The Fall 2009 issue of the newsletter of the National Association of Disability Examiners (NADE) is out. NADE is an organization of personnel who work at the state agencies which make disability determinations at the initial and reconsideration levels for Social Security. This issue of their newsletter includes articles on presentations made at recent NADE events by Commissioner Michael Astrue, former Commissioner Dorcas Hardy, and Assistant Deputy Commissioner for Communications Phil Gambino.

I was surprised to see almost nothing in this newsletter about furloughs affecting NADE members. I would have expected that to be a major issue for NADE.

Should Social Security Copy This?

From Federal Times:

It seems like everybody’s got a new idea for attracting new talent to the federal government these days. But Jim McDermott, chief human capital officer of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, thinks he’s found a foolproof way to convince young engineers to come to his agency: Find them dates.

“There are incentives, and then there are incentives,” McDermott told a crowd of human resources officials at the HCMF Conference in Arlington, Va., earlier today. ”When we’re hiring, we say, ‘Is there a significant other in the picture?’ If there’s no significant other, I tell them, ‘We can help.’ ” ...

Engineers may not necessarily become better dancers by taking a job at NRC, but McDermott said they can meet other single engineers (who probably won’t roll their eyes at Star Trek or lectures on reactor cooling systems). McDermott said NRC’s dating scheme — which he jokingly called “NRC Harmony,” after the eHarmony online dating service — has so far resulted in about eight or nine weddings.

Happy Thanksgiving!

No Early Dismissal For Social Security

An e-mail to Social Security employees:

November 25, 2009

MESSAGE TO ALL SSA EMPLOYEES:

SUBJECT: THANKSGIVING 2009

Late yesterday, the Office of Personnel Management issued a memorandum authorizing agency heads, as a mark of gratitude for the service provided by their employees, to provide an early dismissal on November 25 to the extent that doing so does not interfere with agency operations.

While we are, of course, truly grateful for the service you provide each day, it is critical that we continue to make that service available to the American public. Due to the nature of our operations, we cannot implement an early closing in a fair and equitable manner without disrupting critical and necessary agency operations. For these reasons, the Social Security Administration will not offer an early dismissal today.

Again, thank you for your continued commitment to our mission and the welfare of all of those who depend on us.

Reginald F. Wells

Deputy Commissioner

for Human Resources

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