FederalDaily - May 3, 2007
GAO: DoD,VA Need to Improve Pharmacy Data Exchange
DoD and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) need to improve their efforts to electronically exchange
patient healthcare data—including outpatient pharmacy information—across their electronic
health records systems, said a new government report. In an April 30 report, the Government Accountability
Office (GAO) looked at the nine-year-old effort, called the Clinical Data Repository/Health Data Repository
(CHDR), that links DoD’s and VA’s health data vaults. Although the government promised
that the CHDR would be linked to all VA sites by September, GAO noted some problems. In some cases,
patients can’t be added to the CHDR because some patient information does not match exactly on
all electronic identifiers. Also, VA patients who were discharged from active duty before 1997 may
not have a unique identification number that DoD assigns to its beneficiaries. Without this number,
these patients cannot be activated, GAO said. “Until DOD and VA take additional steps to ensure
all shared patients benefit from the exchange of computable pharmacy data,” the report said, “many
shared patients will not receive the benefit of more complete automatic electronic checks for adverse
medication reactions.” To see more, go to: www.gao.gov/new.items/d07554r.pdf
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NARFE Welcomes Senate GPO Reform Bill
The National Active and Retired Federal Employees’ Association (NARFE) applauded a new Senate
bill that would reduce the Social Security Government Pension Offset (GPO) provision that cuts benefits
for some retired federal employees. The Government Pension Offset Reform Act, introduced by Sens. Barbara
Mikulski, D-Md., and George Voinovich, R-Ohio, would amend the Social Security Act by lessening the
burden of the GPO on retired public servants, said NARFE President Margaret Baptiste on May 1. The
GPO, in effect since 1983, prevents government retirees who were first eligible to retire in 1982 and
later from collecting both a government annuity and Social Security benefits based on their spouse’s
work. In December 2003, approximately 394,000 Social Security beneficiaries were affected by the GPO,
most of them women. A similar measure has been introduced in the House. “The GPO arbitrarily
penalizes the earned Social Security benefits of public sector retirees—devastating the income
security of many federal employees, teachers, and county and state workers,” Baptiste said. To
see more, go to: www.narfe.org/departments/hq/guest/articles.cfm?ID=1160
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Union Says ICE Seeks Elimination of FPS
An official of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) said the bureau of Immigration
and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is aggressively moving to downsize—and possible eliminate—the
Federal Protective Service (FPS), despite congressional instructions to the contrary. AFGE Local 918
President David Wright, who testified May 1 before the House Committee on Homeland Security, said that
ICE was disregarding instructions in the last Department of Homeland Security (DHS) authorization bill
to halt the downsizing. And, Wright said, President Bush’s FY 2008 budget proposal includes an
initiative that would cut hundreds of already scarce FPS jobs and restructure the agency. “ICE
is taking every step to reduce the FPS workforce and FPS is losing experienced law enforcement officers
on an almost daily basis,” Wright said. “ICE is starving FPS of all its resources and is
taking every step to privatize the entire agency.” FPS is the only federal agency charged with
protecting and securing the country’s approximately 8,900 non-military federal buildings. To
see more, go to: www.afge.org/Index.cfm?Page=PressReleases&PressReleaseID=735
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