February 15, 2005
FROM: |
DAN G. BLAIR |
---|---|
SUBJECT: |
Fiscal Year 2005 Physicians’ Comparability Allowance Report |
We are requesting your agency’s FY 2005 report on the physicians’ comparability allowance (PCA) program. We request that you provide this report by May 2, 2005. Section 5948(j) of title 5, United States Code, requires the President to submit an annual report to Congress on the operation of the PCA program. Under Executive Order 12109, the President has delegated responsibility for administration of the PCA program to the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), acting in consultation with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget. OPM is responsible for collecting the required employment and pay data from Federal agencies and compiling the PCA report.
The PCA program permits agencies to provide PCA payments to certain eligible Federal physicians who enter into service agreements with their agencies. The allowance may be paid only to categories of physicians for which the agency is experiencing recruitment and retention problems. Agencies may pay a PCA of up to $14,000 annually to a physician with 24 months or less of service as a Government physician and up to $30,000 annually to a physician with more than 24 months of service as a Government physician.
Your PCA report must include data on physicians receiving PCA payments in FY
2004 and FY 2005. Attachment A contains a listing of Federal agencies that currently
have approved PCA plans. These agencies must submit PCA data to OPM. However,
this request covers all agencies that employ physicians who are eligible for
a PCA. Attachment B contains a data worksheet to be completed by agencies reporting
the required PCA data. PCA-reporting agencies with organizational components
that employed more than 100 physicians who received PCA payments in FY 2004
must submit separate reports by component (using the PCA worksheet), in addition
to a composite report for the entire department or agency. Attachment C provides
additional guidance and instructions for completing the PCA worksheet.
Please send your reports to:
Office of Personnel Management
Division for Strategic Human Resources Policy
Center for Pay and Performance Policy
1900 E Street, NW., Room 7H31
Washington, DC 20415-8200
Attn: Vicki Draper
You may also submit your reports by email at pay-performance-policy@opm.gov or by fax at (202) 606-0824. To ensure that we receive your report on time, we ask that agencies submitting a report by standard mail also send an electronic copy. Please include in your report a point of contact, phone number, and email address. If you have any questions regarding this request, please contact Vicki Draper of OPM’s Pay and Leave Administration Group at (202) 606-2858.
cc: Technical Assistants to Chief Human Capital Officers
Human Resources Directors