IHS Corps Officers All Hands Meeting (Commissioned Corps

IHS Corps Officers All Hands Meeting (Commissioned Corps):

From the desk of CDR Martha Wanca, Western Region Commissioned Corps Liaison – Please join your fellow officers for virtual attendance at the IHS Corps Officers’ All-Hands Meeting on Monday May 8, 2017 from 9-10am.  This is the first in a series for IHS Corps Officers to receive the latest updates directly from and the ability to interact with Acting IHS Director, RADM Chris Buchanan, and/or other members of IHS Senior Leadership on a variety of Commissioned Corps-related topics.  Attendance is highly encouraged.

Date:   Monday, May 8, 2017

Time:  9:00 AM – 10:00 AM Alaska Time Join us in:

Building 15 (on the attached map)

Ahklun Mountains Building

4501 Diplomacy Drive

In the Gathering Room (North side of the ground floor)

Thank you to SCF for providing the meeting space.

The meeting slides and/or webinar recording are available for those who are unable to attend the meeting.  Direct your queries to Stacy Turner, 729-1309, or CDR Martha Wanca at 729-1308.

HR Actions (Federal)

The Standard Form 50 is a Notification of Personnel Action.  This form initiates and generates all information used to record and track government employees for purposes of compensation and benefits.  With a few exceptions, the SF-50 actions for employees in the Alaska Area are manually processed through the Federal HR Office, located on the 3^rd floor of the Inuit Building.  One person enters the data and one person reviews and processes the action.  After processing the data, it takes up to 24 hours for the system to accept it.

Next, the data flows into ITAS, which is a DHHS system.  ITAS connects with DFAS (Defense, Finance and Accounting).  DFAS is also called “Payroll”.   DFAS generates your paycheck based on the data contained within.

Human Resources monitors and tracks data, but because we are working with systems that flow into other systems, errors or dropping of information does occasionally occur.  Review your leave and earning statements and if you see something that has changed, decreased or increased, notify Elena or Beverly so they may review the current actions.  Look over the leave totals and assure the accruals and usage is correct.  Check with your timekeeper if you have questions on the leave balances.

Payroll Actions (Federal)

Interesting facts

DFAS is a Department of Defense payroll system.

ITAS is an Integrated Time and Attendance System under the Department of Health and Human Services.  ITAS is an automated timekeeping system used by Indian Health Service to enter and track hours of work and leave used/earned.

MyPay is a DFAS system where you obtain your leave and earnings statements.  You are also able to make pay changes such as assign allotments, change your correspondence address, change your FEHB (during open season), or change your Federal withholding taxes.

Thinking about Retirement?(Commissioned Corps) 

It is highly recommended that you do four activities prior to submitting your voluntary retirement memo request.

1. Review “Separations” on the CCMIS website at: https://dcp.psc.gov/ccmis/separations/ASSIGNMENTS_separations_m.aspx .
2. Review “Retirement” on the CCMIS website at: https://dcp.psc.gov/ccmis/separations/ASSIGNMENTS_retirements_m.aspx  to include the Important Announcement and Voluntary Retirement Policy.
3. Attend a retirement seminar or complete the Online Retirement Seminar.  The USPHS CC Learning Management System (LMS) Retirement Seminar course is at: https://usphstraining.hhs.gov/login/index.php.
4. Follow these instructions to log in to the online seminar:

• 1. 1. Sign in (User Name = PHS Number, Initial Password = Changeme2!).
     2. Select “Courses” or “Available Course(s)” and under “USPHS Commissioned Corps Retirement Seminars” and select course named “USPHS Retirement Seminar.”
     3. Please review all of the presentations and the supporting materials.
        • Presentations are indicated by the following icons: or
        • Links to websites are indicated by the following icon:
        • Files are indicated by the icon and individual documents are indicated by the icon.

1. Contact the Separations Team at DCCPR to schedule a Pre-Retirement Counseling Session, which is highly recommended for all officers prior to them starting the process.
2. Contact your liaison office for needed forms and a template of the voluntary retirement memo
3. It is mandatory that the effective date for all retirements be on the first day of the month. Please call CDR Martha Wanca, 729-1308 or Stacy Turner, 729-1309 with any questions or for additional information.

HHS FY 2016 Green Champion Award Winner of Energy & Fleet Management Award for Organization/Small Group – IHS Kotzebue Hospital Wind-to-Heat Energy Project

CAPT William Fraser, P.E.; Craig Wood, P.E.; LTJG Adriel Perry; LCDR Praveen KC, P.E.; David Reed, P.E.; Matthew Bergan

The Maniilaq Association, in cooperation with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and Kotzebue Electric Association (KEA), recently completed work on a unique renewable energy project, a wind-to-heat energy system, at the Maniilaq Health Center, a small rural hospital in Kotzebue, Alaska. The new system utilizes excess wind energy from KEA’s 3-megawatt wind turbine farm and directs this extra energy to a 450-kilowatt electric boiler in the hospital. The boiler provides space heating at a discount and reduces the hospital’s consumption of fuel oil.

The project was jointly funded by grants from the IHS Environmental Steering Committee and the Alaska Energy Authority Renewable Energy Fund. In 2012, the hospital spent over $2 million on energy costs and over $1 million alone for fuel oil. The hospital consumes approximately 164,000-gallons of fuel oil annually. The new system is expected to cut the hospital’s heating oil consumption by 20% and save approximately 32,000 gallons of fuel annually.

Birthstone for May is the Emerald

—

Beverly A. Pettit

Human Resource Specialist

Area Ethics Contact

LMS Administrator for Alaska

Personnel Security Representative

IHS, Alaska Area Native Health

4141 Ambassador Drive, RM 318

Anchorage, AK  99508

PH: 907-729-1323/FAX: 907-729-1312

PII Reminder:  Please do not send Personally Identifiable Information such as Social Security Numbers, dates of birth, etc. through unencrypted e-mail.

HR – Serving those who Serve