According to Govexec.com, OPM’s Acting Director Margaret Weichert today provided more insight on the process of folding certain Office of Personnel Management functions into the General Services Administration.

[T]he changes would take place in two broad phases: this year, functions the White House believes can be done administratively, like HR Solutions and OPM’s IT services, will go to GSA, while remaining offices, such as those that work on retirement and administration of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, will have to wait for Congress to pass legislation.

“We’re finalizing some of the legal authorities, but we think there’s a huge amount around HR services, IT and many shared services that we will be able to do administratively using a variety of vehicles,” Weichert told reporters. “I think some of the pure statutory elements defined in Title 5 and elsewhere, particularly around the trust funds and pure policy and oversight activities, would require legislation. And we have a forthcoming legislative proposal that will be coming out soon, although I can’t give an exact date.”

The FEHBlog ran across this useful Choosing Wisely Campaign webpage with educational communications for patients / plan members.

This Healthcare Dive article touts the value of electronic prior authorizations of health plan coverage. HHS created standard electronic formats for these transactions long ago. Considering how much the provider organizations complain about prior authorization, the FEHBlog is surprised by the relatively slow provide uptake on electronic prior authorization.

Becker’s Hospital Review discusses the recent release of the Robert Wood Johnson’s rankings of the healthiest U.S. counties. The FEHBlog lives in the healthiest county in Maryland.

The tidbits keep on coming. The International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans reviews seventeen popular measures that employer sponsored health plans are adopting to control prescription drug cost.

Healthcare Dive reports that “America’s Health Insurance Plans, the BlueCross BlueShield Association and other payer and employer groups sent a letter Monday [March 18] asking Congress to prohibit doctors from sending a surprise bill for emergency or involuntary care.”

Finally, earlier this week the FEHBlog pointed out that Amazon now will let users link health savings account debit cards to their accounts. The FEHBlog should have added that the same feature will allow users to link healthcare flexible spending accounts to their accounts.