FederalDaily - August 3, 2007

TSP Monthly Returns for July 2007

Rates of Return were updated on August 1, 2007.

The monthly G, F, C, S, and I Fund returns represent the actual total rates of return used in the monthly allocation of earnings to participant accounts. The returns are shown after deduction of accrued TSP administrative expenses. The F, C, S, and I Fund returns also reflect the deduction of trading costs and accrued investment management fees. The most current G, F, C, S, and I Fund rates of return are shown above. Returns are updated after the monthly allocation of earnings, usually by the fourth business day of the month.

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VA Picks Four New Nursing Academy Sites

To address the growing need for trained nurses, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) moved ahead with its public-private health care initiative and picked four nursing schools that will serve as the initial sites for the new VA Nursing Academy. VA selected nursing schools in Florida, California, Utah and Connecticut for special partnerships with local VA health care facilities as part of the nursing academy, VA Secretary Jim Nicholson said in a July 31 statement. The four VA-nursing partnerships were selected from among 42 applications. The department plans to add eight more VA-nursing school partnerships in 2008 and 2009, for a total of 12 partnerships in the five-year pilot program, Nicholson said. The first four nursing schools selected are the University of Florida in Gainesville, San Diego State University, University of Utah in Salt Lake City and Fairfield University in Fairfield, Conn. “The expanded role of VA in the education of nurses will ensure the department has the nurses needed to continue our world-class health care for veterans,” said Nicholson. To see more, go to: www.va.gov/oaa.

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TRICARE Contractors Met Most OB/GYN Targets

During the past two years, health care support contractors met most of their targets for the number of obstetricians available to those enrolled in TRICARE’s civilian provider networks, said a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released July 31. GAO looked at the networks after some TRICARE beneficiaries reported difficulties obtaining obstetric care from civilian physicians. Of the 175 Prime Service Areas (PSA) subject to TRICARE’s standards for network adequacy, 135 PSAs (77 percent) met targets for network civilian obstetricians during all reported periods for 2005 and 2006. Relatively few localities frequently fell short of the contractor-set targets, the report said. Across the three contractors’ regions, 24 PSAs (14 percent) frequently fell short of targets for obstetricians. Notably, 19 of these 24 PSAs were still short of their targets as of late calendar year 2006, the report said. About 111,000 women covered by TRICARE programs gave birth during 2006 and about one-half received obstetric care from civilian physicians, the report said. To see more, go to: www.gao.gov/docsearch/abstract.php?rptno=GAO-07-941R

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FDA Puts on Hold Plan to Close ORA Labs, Trim Staff

Bowing to public pressure, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has put on hold a plan to close about one-half of the agency’s 13 Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA) labs and cut approximately 37 percent of ORA laboratory analysts. The head of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) applauded the move, but called on the agency to drop the plan entirely. “This is a welcome step,’ said NTEU President Colleen Kelley, who has been a leader in the fight against the lab closings, “but a temporary halt to a misguided plan is not enough. The idea of closing the labs needs to be scrapped.” In a June letter to FDA Commissioner Andrew C. von Eschenbach, lawmakers had protested the staffing cuts, and later inserted language into the FY 2008 FDA appropriations bill (H.R. 3161) barring any ORA lab closures. To see more, go to: www.nteu.org/fdalabs.

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