FederalDaily - May 25, 2006

DoD Considers Unified Military Health Care Command

Department of Defense (DoD) officials are considering the possible benefits of creating a unified command to oversee health care for every branch of the military. According to a May 22 press release, the medical command would also take charge of medical personnel training and research and development activities. Dr. David Tornberg, DoD deputy assistant secretary for clinical and program policy, argued that a unified medical command would help DoD improve health care and simultaneously control costs. Tornberg added that the 2005 base realignment and closure (BRAC) could serve as a preview of the consolidation. The BRAC plan for 2005 called for moving Walter Reed Army Medical Center services to the National Navy Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., and combining other military medical research.

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FEMA Re-Tooled for Hurricane Season

A number of institutional improvements are underway at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to prepare for the upcoming hurricane season, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DHS published a fact sheet, which noted that, to date, FEMA has filled 85 percent of its vacancies. “By early July, FEMA expects to fully meet their 95% goal,” DHS said. Also, FEMA has deployed a relief supplies tracking system in Atlanta, Ga., and Ft. Worth, Texas, to serve the two most hurricane-prone regions. Other changes announced by DHS include:

• enhanced communications abilities to provide real-time updates to FEMA leadership;
• increased customer service capacity to handle as many as 200,000 phone calls per day for people requesting assistance, fraud protection and other services; and
• a new, experienced leadership team to guide the agency.

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Looking at Remote Embassy Support Costs

The Department of State needs to analyze the potential cost savings of handling certain embassy tasks remotely at domestic offices, a recent study said. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, issued to Congress on May 2, reviewed State’s use of remote, domestic offices to provide finance, human resources and other administrative support to overseas posts. Not only had State not reviewed possible cost savings from providing remote support, but GAO also found that many department officials were not aware of the services handled by regional offices. GAO recommended that State:

• look at the costs associated with remote support; and
• develop measures to gauge performance and customer satisfaction with services.

Currently, the department is also verifying whether any new policies or regulation changes are necessary to allow the use of remote support services. The GAO report is available online at www.gao.gov/new.items/d06479.pdf.

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