OPM does not have documented customer service plans for the Postal Service’s open season, OIG said.

The new health insurance plan, overseen by the Office of Personnel Management and serving 1.7 million Postal Service employees, annuitants and eligible dependents, is set to begin with the first open season in two weeks, but the inspector general’s report raises questions about whether there is a special support plan clients for this.

OPM will launch the first open season of the Postal Service’s health insurance system on Nov. 11, using a multi-partner network of agencies and at least one contractor to manage the influx of customer experience requests.

The launch will be the first test of a new federal health insurance exchange designed to serve U.S. Postal Service employees, retirees and dependents first created by the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022.

But while OPM detailed to the inspector general its customer service plans and contingencies for PSHB through “a set of flowcharts, Maximus sets goals and communicates its plans in several meetings,” the watchdog said it did not demonstrate a coherent strategy. to guide public service efforts.

“It is critical that OPM have detailed written plans, policies and procedures to provide client support, particularly during the 2024 PSHBP open season, to ensure that each participating agency and organization clearly understands their roles and responsibilities,” the report from 23 stated. October. “Without such clearly defined documentation, there is a higher risk that customer support will be inadequate to meet demand, particularly during this first open season.”

OPM coordinates its efforts to improve customer service through its Office of Retirement Services, as well as the General Services Administration, the Department of Labor, the Department of Agriculture’s National Financial Center, the Postal Service’s Human Resources Shared Services Center and its customer support contractor Maximus.

Through OPM’s Health and Insurance Division, Maximus is contracted to provide a PSHB customer helpline, providing “assistance in navigating the portal, answering basic PSHBP questions and troubleshooting technical issues” as well as ensuring enrollment for certain beneficiaries.

GSA is using its Login.gov team to help provide account access, while the Department of Labor, the National Financial Center and the Postal Service Workforce Shared Services Center are also tapped to provide customer support services.

The report noted that the Maximus team will offer portal navigation assistance, basic answers, and troubleshooting assistance for health care exchanges during the open season, but OIG raised concerns about the level of customer support available.

“Through meetings with OPM staff and requests for information, we learned that the RS Maximus team consists of 16 customer support specialists (specialists) who provide assistance to approximately 650,000 annuitants. The OIG expressed concern about the small number of specialists,” the statement said. “OPM stated during the July 25, 2024 meeting in response to OIG questions that it was not focused on staffing the RS Maximus team, but would instead rely on its contract with Maximus to ensure that annuitants receive the customer support they need. “

Two months later, OPM updated its order for Maximus to include “nearly five times as many specialists as originally planned,” with 77 specialists available for the open season. The contractor also plans to “liaise daily and weekly” with agency representatives to evaluate open season performance metrics and address issues as they arise.

“OPM explained that if Maximus is unable to support customers at the required level of performance, OPM’s plan of action is to utilize the resources of OPM’s RS Retirement Clearinghouse and then the Postal Health Benefits Team,” the report states.

The contractor will be able to route calls to either 160 RS Retirement Information Services customer service agents or an additional 10 postal health insurance team employees through an interactive voice response system managed by OPM and Maximus, with the option of overtime for contract employees in the event of a surge in call volume.

However, the OIG noted that while the agency’s client support plan was “robust,” it did not have a comprehensive plan for how it would operate. The watchdog offered OPM a single recommendation: “Document comprehensive customer service plans, policies and procedures that ensure that all agencies and organizations know their roles and responsibilities.

While OPM officials agreed with the overall recommendation, in response to the report they said they had “focused extensive efforts on data integration and created both a cross-functional data tiger team and an enrollment reconciliation team” to help address coverage concerns. questions quickly.

OPM also noted that it is establishing a technical command center to respond to technical issues and has assigned an enterprise postal operations support team to assist with incident response and problem resolution.

OIG said it appreciated the addition of cross-functional data teams, registration reconciliation, and ePOST, but could not comment on their coordination of customer support because “OPM has not previously shared information about these teams with OIG.”

“As OPM emphasized, the customer service experience is complex and involves multiple OPM program management offices as well as external agencies and organizations,” the watchdog said. “It is critical that OPM communicate plans, policies and procedures in a clear, concise document or series of documents to ensure that all parties are delivering the same messages and are clear about their roles and responsibilities.”

A representative of the OPM reported this. Executive body of government the email said that “OPM is committed to ensuring a smooth transition for all Postal Service employees, annuitants and their families. We have made a number of updates since the summer and have a robust customer service plan in place for the open season.”

Editor’s note: The article has been updated to include OPM’s comments on PSHB open season operations.