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

Poll

Free Web poll for your Web site - freepolls.com

Poll On Individual Experience With The Federal Government

Gallup has a poll out on "the individual experience with federal agencies." The Social Security Administration was chosen as the federal agency that has the biggest impact on American lives personally and by a wide margin. Social Security was in the second quartile of agencies in terms of how satisfied people were with their interactions with the agency, ranking behind agencies such as Fish and Wildlife, the Forest Service, the National Park Service, the Smithsonian, the State Department and VA Hospitals.

Results Of Last Week's Unscientific Poll

Should Social Security automatically find a person disabled if that person has been found 100% disabled by VA (assuming that person meets non-disability requirements for Social Security disability benefits)?

Yes (73)	42%
No (99)	58%

Total Votes: 172