PRESS ROOM

CMS Chosen For Hiring 'Makeover'
By Mary Agnes Carey, CQ HealthBeat Associate Editor

September 14, 2004

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has been chosen as one of three federal agencies to have its hiring practices overhauled by a team of private-sector experts.

The Partnership for Public Service, Monster Government Solutions and Korn/Ferry International are among the companies that will diagnose problems in each agency's recruitment and hiring processes and implement solutions.

According to the Partnership for Public Service, one of the groups involved in the project, more than half of all federal employees will be eligible to retire within the next five years. One of the biggest impediments to attracting new employees is the federal hiring process. In some cases, federal job application instructions run 35 pages. Additionally, applicants often have to wait six months to a year before getting a job offer. A recent study from the research firm Penn, Schoen, Berland & Associates Inc. indicated that 69 percent of college juniors and seniors said they are not willing to wait more than four weeks.

The agency, which is facing a wave of employee retirements within the next few years, needs to hire staff to help implement the Medicare drug bill (PL 108-173).

"CMS has a very small window of time to hire new staff with brand-new skill sets while restoring the institutional knowledge that will walk out the door when many of our most experienced employees retire in the near future," said Leslie Norwalk, deputy administrator.

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