VETERANS’ HEALTH CARE - Preliminary Observations on VHA’s Claims Processing Delays and Efforts to Improve the Timeliness of Payments to Community Providers
Due to increases in expenditures and utilization of VA care in the community services in recent years, VHA has had difficulty processing claims in a timely manner. In planning to consolidate its ... existing VA care in the community programs, as required by law, the agency said it will examine strategies for improving the timeliness and accuracy of its payments to community providers.<br ... /> This statement, which is based on ongoing work, summarizes GAO’s preliminary observations about (1) VHA’s, Medicare’s, and TRICARE’s claims processing timeliness in fiscal year 2015; (2) factors that have impeded ... Data processing hold back by technology limitation, workload and administrative burden ... US GAO analyzed all factors of slower processing and user unfriendliness that occur sometimes to the veterans healthcare. The main focus is data processing - and it has been proved that it can ... be failing not only because of technology, but also because of work-process design, staff and organisation.
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The management of the State Property and Funds while Information Systems Building for the Ministry of Defence
The aim of the audit was to examine management during process of extension and modernization of the current information systems and at building of new information systems for the needs ... of the Ministry of Defence or the Army of the Czech Republic. Operating of information systems is inseparably linked with the communication infrastructure, thus the technological shift to ICT was reviewed also ... in this connection. The stationary ICT systems are determined to support management of the Ministry of Defence in period of peace. They are also supposed as a tool of crisis management. The auditing operation covered ... ... Information systems not balanced with infrastructure ... Both organizational changes and inflexibility produce unbalanced plans which cause deiscrepancies between IS and infrastructure.
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Software Developement Effective Practices and Federal Chalenges in Applying Agile Methods
To identify effective practices in applying Agile for software developement solutions and federal challenges in implementing Agile techniques. ... Agile project approach in government practice ... Useful products delivered in a short time are basis for often applauded features of agile project approach. Applied by many private companies, it tends as well to be more and more popular among state ... administrations. American GAO reviewed set of agile projects and revealed - apart from advantages - a set of commonly occurring problems: poor team work, lack of time and deficit of customers’ trust.
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Australian Taxation Office: Administration of Australian Business Number Registrations
More elligibility and data integrity needed The Australian Business Number (ABN) and Australian Business Register initiatives were implemented as part of theGovernment's comprehensive reform of the taxation system in 2000. Their introduction involved challenging issues of technology and governance , including the imperative to process and register significant numbers of applications in a short time. Overall, the Australian SAI concluded that the ABN registration process is operating effectively. However, matters relating to the eligibility of some ABN applicants need to be reviewed. Further, some data integrity issues remain outstanding.
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Building and Implementing the Phoenix Pay System
Expensive IT project became a failure Phoenix project (development of states pay system) was an incomprehensible failure of project management and oversight. Phoenix executives prioritized certain aspects, such as schedule and budget, over other critical ones, such as functionality and security. Phoenix executives did not understand the importance of warnings that the Miramichi Pay Centre, departments and agencies, and the new system were not ready. They did not provide complete and accurate information to deputy ministers and associate deputy ministers of departments and agencies, including the Deputy Minister of Public Services and Procurement, when briefing them on Phoenix readiness for implementation.
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The Shared Services Centre
The necessary environment for the efficient management of the Shared Service Center is lacking The department's administration of the Shared Services Centre (SSC) has been effective for sharing resources between the departments and delivering selected back-office services to a small client base. However, the governance arrangements established to oversight the SSC have not positioned it well for the future and the departments have not yet determined if the arrangement is efficient and resulting in savings. ANAO found instances where the advisory board of SSC was not consulted or involved in decisions relating to the strategic direction, financial arrangements and expenditure priorities. Information reported to the board did not focus on areas of strategic importance and the quality and completeness of this information could be improved. The mechanisms established for setting out responsibilities and obligations and ensuring transparency for services delivered by the SSC was weak. Service standards and levels were not fixed and can change. The delineation of responsibilities between the SSC and its clients was not clear and there was no commitment by the SSC to certify the quality of its control framework.
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