Request for Data for the FY 2021 Physicians' Comparability Allowance Report to Congress

March 14, 2022 CPM 2022-04 Memorandum for Chief Human Capital Officers From: Kiran A. Ahuja Director Subject: Request for Data for the FY 2021 Physicians’ Comparability Allowance Report to Congress The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), in consultation with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), must submit a report to Congress by June 30 each year on the operation of the physicians’ comparability allowance (PCA) authority during the previous fiscal year. (See 5 U.S.C. 5948(j) and Executive Order 12109.) This memorandum requests that agencies submit the data and information outlined in the attached worksheet to OPM by March 31, 2022, for the FY 2021 PCA report to Congress. The head of an agency with a PCA plan approved by OMB may pay a PCA to certain eligible Federal physicians who sign a service agreement. (See 5 U.S.C. 5948 and 5 CFR part 595.) The PCA payment may be up to $14,000 per year (for a physician with 24 months or less of service as a Government physician) or up to $30,000 per year (for a physician with more than 24 months of service as a Government physician) and must address an agency recruitment or retention problem. By law, the PCA report to Congress must include information on— • • • • • which agencies used the allowance; the nature and extent of recruiting and retention problems justifying the use of the allowance by each agency; the number of physicians that entered into PCA agreements by agency; the size of the allowances and duration of the agreements; and the degree to which the allowance alleviated recruiting and retention problems.

To satisfy this reporting requirement, please complete the attached worksheet regarding your agency’s use of the PCA authority in FY 2021. One worksheet should be completed for the entire agency. Agencies that do not have an OMB-approved PCA plan cannot use the PCA authority and are not required to respond to this data request. Please submit your agency report by March 31, 2022, by email to: pay-leave-policy@opm.gov. If you have any questions, you may contact Lisa Dismond in OPM’s Employee Services, Pay and Leave, at pay-leave-policy@opm.gov. cc: Deputy Chief Human Capital Officers and Human Resources Directors