Midweek update

Govexec.com brings us up to date on the federal long term care premium increase controversy.  The decision period for affected enrollees ends on September 30, and the premium increase kicks in on November 1.

FCW.com reports that the President has nominated Elizabeth Field to be the new OPM Inspector General.  The nominate requires Senate confirmation and there’s not much time left in this Congress for that process to be completed.

OPM yesterday announced its Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey results. “The 2016 FEVS was administered to 407,789 employees representing 80 (38 large / 42 small) Federal agencies. These results provided through UnlockTalent.gov contain scores for two major indices — Employee Engagement and Global Job Satisfaction across the Federal government. OPM plans to release the more detailed 2016 FEVS results in digital and print formats in early October.”

Earlier this week, OPM issued guidance to federal agencies concerning flexibilities for federal employees affected by the Zika virus.

Finally, Health Data Management discusses a government task force report’s recommendations for improving the Blue Button connector which OPM endorsed for FEHBP carrier use a few years ago. is The connector is “designed to enable consumers to determine which healthcare providers offer electronic access to their health records.”