# Presentation: 813442

## Claims

- Consolidation

- June 2006

- AFC

- PFC

- KFC

- SFC

## Background

- In an effort to streamline work, various Claims activities will be consolidated in Regional Operations (RO).
- This effort will accomplish economies of scale and potential reduction in equipment needs.

## Background (cont’d)

- A workgroup was formed with representatives from each of the four Regional Financial Centers (RFC) and Washington office.
- The purpose of the group was to identify, review, analyze key action items or issues, and substantiate a recommendation to consolidate specific claims activities.

## Parameters

- The RFC Regional Directors established the following set of parameters for the work group:
- There should be no degradation of service to customer agencies
- Priority should be given to linking the “accountability” back to the original RFC of disbursement
- All four RFCs retain some capability to accept and deposit miscellaneous receipts

## Workload Distribution

- RO Management looked at three distinct and “geography-independent” functions:
-  Returned Payments
-  ACH non-receipt trace requests
-  EFT Reclamations
- These tasks will be realigned so that each is carried out in no more than two RFCs.

## Workload Distribution (cont’d)

- The consolidation of Claims activities will occur within the Claims Branches at each of the four RFCs:
-  Austin Financial Center (AFC)
-  Kansas City Financial Center (KFC)
-  Philadelphia Financial Center (PFC)
-  San Francisco Financial Center (SFC)

## Workload Distribution (cont’d)

- The Claims work will be consolidated as follows:
-  Returned Payments:	KFC and PFC
-  EFT Reclamations:	AFC and SFC
-  ACH non-receipts:	PFC and KFC

## Returned Payment activities:

- Cancellation Schedules (1098, 145, 1185)
- Daily Check & EFT reconciliations
- FRB Deposit ticket & Debit voucher processing
- Limited Payability checks
- Returned Checks
- Unidentified remittances
- Mailing Notice of Change (NOC) forms
- Contested Dishonored items

## EFT Reclamation activities:

- Mailing Notice of Reclamations (FMS-133)
- Analyze 133 responses from banks
- FMS-135 Debits
- Reclaims for agencies
- Mailing Follow-up notices (FMS-2942)
- 120-day protest letters
- Non-Entitlement Death Report (NEDs)
- Unprocessed Reclamation remittances

## ACH non-receipt activities:

- Teletrace (SSA/SSI)
- Miscellaneous agency trace requests
- 150.2 and 150.1 paper traces
- 		(OPM, VA, and IRS)

## Rationale for the Movement of Work

- From a “big picture” perspective, this consolidation scenario moves FTEs and some equipment from historically larger RFCs to smaller ones culminating in four RFCs that are more evenly balanced across the board.
- Consolidation of claims work will help eliminate very small work tasks that are presently being performed by all RFCs thus helping to capitalize on scale of economy processing.
- Consolidating each primary claims activity into two RFCs will help to achieve a higher level of expertise for those activities.

## Phone Inquiries

- In addition to the physical work moving, phone inquiries from agencies, financial institutions and the general public will move to remain aligned with the RFC processing the work.
- Teletrace inquiries will be directed to our toll free number (**1-888-681-4304**)
- Agency miscellaneous trace requests and returned payment inquiries will be directed to our Customer Service Help Desk Unit  (**816-414-2100**)

## Business Contingency Planning

- The consolidation of Claims work will further accommodate a clean transfer of work workload if contingency processing becomes necessary.
- In the event a situation arises, the RFC that performs the same work will assume responsibility for the work of the RFC in crisis.

## Implementation – October 1st, 2006

- Due to work volumes and resources available at each RFC, the Claims consolidation effort will take place concurrently at all RFCs for Claims activities.
- We are targeting to implement the Claims Consolidation on October 1, 2006 and all work will transition on that date

## Impact on the Kansas City Regional Financial Center 

- KFC will be picking up the following work from SFC:
-  All returned payments (check and EFT)
-  SSA Western Service Center Teletrace
-  OPM 150.2 and 150.1 paper traces
- SFC will be picking up the following work from KFC:
-  SSA/SSI Reclamation activity

## RFC Points of Contact

- Francie Abbott
- 	Financial Services and Support Branch Manager
- 	Kansas City Regional Financial Center
- 	(816) 414-2151
- Debbie Price
- 	Claims Branch Manager
- 	San Francisco Regional Financial Center
- 	(510) 594-7170