OCC Team Express News - December 2021 (ISSUE 42)
Grateful for you this Thanksgiving
Dear OCC Team,
Happy holidays, or as my Italian grandmother would say, “Buone Feste.” We have had another unusual, yet remarkable year. We have succeeded because of the exceptional work all of you do every day - thank you! I hope that your holidays are filled with creating extraordinary memories and joy.
Traditions carried on from generation to generation often create the best memories. In my house, my husband, daughter and I have found ways to carry on traditions that have been handed down from our families, building on the memories from our childhood.
Every Christmas Eve my Italian grandmother would create the most delicious Feast of Seven Fishes, a traditional Italian celebration of at least seven fish and seafood treats. With only three of us at home, we’ve scaled it down and make seven tapas still keeping the La Vigilia tradition but on a bit smaller scale.
Another fun tradition for us is baking cookies. I especially love baking Italian wedding cookies (Anginetti) with my daughter. It’s my favorite cookie recipe my grandmother passed down. I’ve uploaded the recipe in the OCC Employee Cookbook in case you want to try making these delicious cookies. While you are looking at the Italian wedding cookies recipe, why not add your favorite holiday recipe?
One yearly tradition I don’t participate in is making a New Year’s resolution. I take time at the end of the year to reflect and note areas I can focus more on or perhaps need to spend less time doing. I believe we should make commitments to improve, start a new habit, etc., as each opportunity present itself throughout the year.
What traditions have been handed down through your family generations? Share your family traditions in the Employee Engagement Portal – we’d love to hear about them!
Whatever your holiday traditions are, I hope you find great joy and peace as you create memories doing them this year.
Happy holidays, “Buone Feste” and Happy New Year, “Felice Anno Nuovo.”
Julianne Flynn, MD
Acting Deputy to the Assistant Under Secretary
for Health for Community Care
Performing the Delegable Duties of the
Assistant Under Secretary for Health for Community Care
VHA's Special Commemorative E-Book Available Now
Do you have an article you want to share with subscribers of one of the OCC Newsletters, Provider Advisor, Roundup, or Team Express News but aren’t quite sure how to submit it? Keep reading to learn how to engage with more than 120,000 newsletter subscribers and submit an article today!
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Send any questions to the VHA OCC Digital Engagement team. We’re happy to help!
Veterans Health Administration (VHA) 75 Years: A legacy of Service. The Future of Care – a commemorative e-book is now available!
Check out the special commemorative e-book that highlights VHA’s past, present and future. It offers a collective look at 75 years of exemplary service to our Veterans and a view of the challenges and opportunities for the next 75 years for VHA.
Check out this beautiful e-book that chronicles historic VHA events now!
Assignment of Functional Category, VA Form-10-0539
It’s that time again to account for OCC VA Form 10-0539, Functional Category Form. VHA requires all personnel to complete a functional category form annually and when job duties or supervisors change. Reference: VHA Directive 1605.02, Minimum Necessary Standard for Access, Use, Disclosure, and Requests for Protected Health Information.
The functional category form is maintained in supervisor files and referenced for privacy incidents and access requests.
All personnel are classified into at least one designated functional category for their primary job and applicable categories for additional job duties. Supervisors and employees discuss and sign the form, this form is meant to clarify the employee’s limitations on access, use, and disclosing PHI in the performance of their job duties. When duties change, the form also is updated to reflect the access change.
Just like assigning performance standards, the assignment of functional categories is another layer to hold the supervisor and employee accountable for their actions. Functional category assignments provide many benefits including:
More information is available from the employee’s supervisor or the OCC Privacy Office at vha.occ.po@va.gov.
Supervisor Ready! OCC's commitment to employee growth, engagement and satisfaction
The VHA Supervisor Ready! is a leadership development program for VHA employees that targets non-supervisory Emerging Leaders and Team Leaders aspiring to be a supervisor in a healthcare setting.
The program is conducted entirely online over the course of three months. The first two offerings of this program will be March 7 – June 3, 2022, and August 22 – November 18, 2022.
Workforce Development team members, Jerome Epps, Jerry Plaisance and Phillip Kilbourne assisted in reviewing over 120 applications for VHACO this year.
Final decisions will be made in late December with notifications of selected and non-selected applicants being made around January 7, 2022.
Workforce Development Employee Development Manager, Crystal Carter, would like to thank Jerome, Jerry and Phillip for assisting in reviewing applicants for OCC Revenue Operations, OCC and other VHACO offices. Their efforts helped secure spots for the program by supporting VHACO and OCC. Thank you for your attention to detail and quick turnaround.
If you have questions about Supervisor Ready!, please email the VHACO POC.
All Employee Survey (AES) for the Office of Community Care (OCC)
The AES results have been uploaded to the OCC AES Teams Channels for Supervisors and an OCC AES Teams Channel for Employees. Each channel contains:
Action Planning is here! Supervisors should be meeting with their teams, sharing results, and working together to create an action plan. This year we have 4 Milestones for action planning.
Milestone 1 – Decide Action Plan – September 27 – October 22, 2021
Milestone 2 – Create Action Plan – October 25 – November 19, 2021
Milestone 3 – Status Update – November 29 – December 17, 2021
Milestone 4 – Complete Action Plan – January 10 – January 28, 2022
Thank you to everyone who took the time to participate in the survey itself. If you didn’t take the survey, you still have a chance for your voice to be heard through action planning.
Meet Kathy Root, Revenue Operations
Meet Kathy Root, Director of Quality and Performance, part of the Revenue Operations Team. After 26 years of federal service, she will retire on December 31, 2021.
Kathy started her career in VHA in 2005, as the Business Implementation Manager for VISN 2, where she managed a $46M healthcare revenue program for an integrated healthcare system consisting of 5 medical centers and 29 outpatient clinics. Her work resulted in an increase of collections by $3M year over year. She also implemented Lean and Lean Six Sigma principles and practices resulting in improved business process efficiencies and sustained performance outcomes.
During her tenure as the Director of Quality and Performance, Kathy has been instrumental in establishing foundational activities that supported the implementation and sustainment of improved operational performance and processes deployed within the national CPAC model. Her work in the areas of standardized business processes, risk management, internal audit, business/performance analytics and reporting, program management, and systems redesign (Lean/LSS) are most notable. The result of her work in these areas has improved overall collections performance, provided greater transparency to stakeholders, improved outcomes of external audits, reduced the exposure of VHA to fraud, waste and abuse and more importantly improved the experience of Veterans accessing VHA.
Over the last three years, Kathy has been concurrently supporting the Office of Electronic Health Record Modernization (OEHRM), driving systems requirements for the new Patient Accounting System. She co-chairs the Business Operations Committee, Chairs the Patient Accounting Workgroup, supports the OEHRM Risk Management Committee and serves as the Revenue Cycle Functional Champion and VHA revenue cycle representative member of the Federal Electronic Health Record Modernization (FEHRM). FEHRM is a collaborative with VA and the Defense Health Agency (DHA) on a shared EHR platform. These efforts are critical to the success of the massive transformation the VA is undertaking for the new electronic health record.
VHA and OCC Revenue Operations would like to thank Kathy for her extraordinary dedication and contributions to VA’s commitment to providing exceptional service to Veterans. Kathy has been nominated for an Under Secretary of Health's Commendation Award in honor of her exceptional and distinguished service.
We wish Kathy all the best as she retires, and we certainly will miss her very much!
High Reliability Organization Corner
Did you know that VHA has a High Reliability Organization (HRO) Vision Statement? It embodies the idea of VHA as a high reliability system providing safe, world-class care to Veterans.
VHA’s HRO Vision Statement
The term “Zero Harm” in the Vision Statement often confuses people. Are we working toward having zero mistakes? Yes. But does it mean that there will never be mistakes or errors? No! We are human, and HROs assume people and systems will make errors or mistakes, which is inevitable.
“Zero Harm” in health care refers to the HRO’s goal that no patient experiences harm caused by avoidable human or system error. Zero Harm does not mean errors are non-existent; it means if a mistake occurs, the patient will not be harmed and that the HRO will learn from the mistake.
VHA’s HRO vision statement affirms that Veterans and their families believe the health care treatment they receive from VA will not result in harm to them and will be an experience unmatched by any other health care system.
Got to VHA’s Journey to High Reliability SharePoint site to learn more about HRO. Have a question? Submit it here.
Share Your High Reliability Story!
Do you have a High Reliability Story you would like to feature in next month’s Team Express News? If yes!, submit an article using this newsletter article template choosing Team Express News and send your submission to the VHA OCC Digital Engagement team.
VA recognizes that the health and wellbeing of all employees is of critical importance, and events over the last couple of years have stressed many of us in ways we never anticipated.
If you need help during difficult times, remember that VA employees and their families can access comprehensive Employee Assistance Program (EAP) services through contracts negotiated with local vendors for each station.
Your EAP provides free and confidential professional consulting, coaching and counseling services for these and many other challenges:
The EAP program is free and confidential, with your right to privacy protected within the bounds of the law. The EAP will not disclose who uses the program, so no one is aware you are using the services unless you choose to inform them. EAP’s goal is to ensure you have the professional assistance necessary to handle personal matters before they impact your wellbeing. When you receive help with a personal problem, your private/home life improves, work goes better, and everyone benefits.
To take advantage of the EAP at your organization, contact Employee Assistance Program - Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer (va.gov).
December can be a joyful time, as there is a convergence of festivities and traditions to celebrate this “holiday season”. There also tends to be a heavy focus around Christmas as the pivotal religious holiday.
Did you know between November 1st and January 15th there are over 29 holidays observed by seven of the world’s major religions that co-exist during this season, yet many of them don’t get the same “top of mind” awareness that more well-known holidays do at the end of the year?
The holiday season also presents the standard bearer where many of us are tuned toward celebrating personal and deeply rooted religious traditions. It is easy to overlook the depth of our diversity on this level without acknowledging the vast scope of other cultural holidays and celebratory expressions this time of year and beyond.
In the VA, employees are encouraged to bring their whole selves to work, including deeply held religious beliefs. One’s religion and culture represent deeply ingrained values passed down through generations. The future of diversity and inclusion is bringing these values into all areas of the workplace. Celebrating and recognizing another’s religion and or culture enlightens and encourages learning, connects workplace colleagues and develops a sense of true belonging.
Developing a greater self-awareness within the multiplicity of religious holidays and observances throughout the traditional “holiday season” can have significant benefits that contribute to a thoughtful work environment where all employees feel comfortable to openly observe cultural practices that are important to them. Take time to learn about one new cultural celebration this season, which will enrich your understanding of the holiday traditions celebrated by others.
Whether celebrating now or at a later time in the year, we wish you joy and happiness!
Fall and Winter Holidays
Source: Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding
There may be other holidays that are not listed above, please feel free to share others with your co-workers and the EEO Office as we strive to be inclusive of all.
Check out the most recent Outstanding Coworker Celebrations
Thinking of nominating an OCC employee for doing a great job, giving fantastic customer service or being innovative? Now you have a choice of three recognition certificates to send to that person for going the extra mile!
Have you seen this month’s list of recognized OCC employees? The site has been updated, and there are new steps to view the list of recognized employees.
Want to nominate a coworker for going the extra mile, providing outstanding customer service, or exhibiting an act of kindness? Nominate them now!
Submit your great ideas using OCC's Employee Engagement Portal
Be a part of OCC’s Employee Engagement and Innovation Movement by sharing your ideas or suggestions for improvement using our Employee Engagement Portal.
Integrated Veteran Care (IVC) SharePoint
Did you know that there is an Integrated Veteran Care (IVC) SharePoint site where you access resources about IVC like the October 5, 2021 press release, learn about the Action Teams, and read frequently asked questions (FAQs)?
Even more importantly, if you have a question, comment or suggestion about IVC for the IVC implementation team, you can submit it online. The IVC team will make every effort to respond to questions as soon as possible.
Go ahead, check out the IVC SharePoint site. Have a question or comment, submit it!
Latest OCC Blogs in VAntage Point
OCC continues to post blogs in VAntage Post, the official blog of VA. Check out the following blogs posted recently:
Commemoration of Human Rights Day and Week, and Bill of Rights Day
Pulled from Diversity@Work December 2021 newsletter
VA joined the Nation in commemorating Human Rights Week beginning December 5, Human Rights Day on December 10, and Bill of Rights Day on December 15.
Human Rights Week begins the Sunday before Human Rights Day, an annual observance marking December 10, 1948, the day that the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
“Drafted by representatives of diverse legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the Declaration sets out universal values and a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations. It establishes the equal dignity and worth of every person” (United Nations).
Bill of Rights Day is a national celebration of “the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, which spell out our rights as Americans. It guarantees civil rights and liberties such as freedom of speech, press, and religion. It sets rules for due process of law and reserves all powers not delegated to the Federal Government to the people or the states” (National Archives).
On Wednesday, December 15, 2021, from 1 to 2 p.m. (EST), the National Archives Museum held an online program entitled, “Bill of Rights Day: ‘Anti-Federalists and the Bill of Rights.’” The 1787 Constitutional Convention considered and rejected a Bill of Rights. The first 10 amendments were adopted only after pressure from opponents of the new national government. Most of these “Anti-Federalists” were disappointed with the Bill of Rights. Using clips from the documentary series “Confounding Father: A Contrarian View of the U.S. Constitution,” scholars will discuss the arguments of the Anti-Federalists over the Bill of Rights. Moderated by Richard Hall, director and co-producer of “Confounding Father”, panelists include Mary Sarah Bilder, professor of law at Boston College, and Woody Holton, a history professor at the University of South Carolina.
Visit the National Archives for videos and other resources on the Bill of Rights.
Community Care Hub – General resources on community care programs and processes. (Intranet)
Community Care Field Guidebook – Technical operational guidance for community care operations. (Intranet)
Community Care Website – Main public website for community care for Veterans. (Internet)
Community Provider Website – Main public website for community providers. (Internet)
Newsletter Article Questions - See topic-specific list of e-mail contacts.
Communications/General Newsletter Questions - Contact OCC Digital Engagement
General Questions - Contact VHA 13 Support Staff