Access to care starts with knowing where care actually exists. New findings from the HHS Inspector General show that the provider information Medicaid patients and state officials rely on is often inaccurate or incomplete. Joining me now is Laura Kordish, Regional Inspector General for Evaluation and Inspections at Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General.

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Getting the right person into the right role has long been one of the military's toughest workforce challenges. The Pentagon is testing new ways to identify individual capabilities and use them in assignment and career decisions. The approach focuses on measurable performance rather than credentials alone. Joining me to explain what's changed to support this approach is Senior Scientist and Portfolio Lead at Aptima, Julia Brown.

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Today on the Federal Drive with Terry Gerton

• In the military, mission success depends on understanding what people can actually do—and matching them to the missions that need them
• For pregnant Medicaid patients, finding care depends on information that's supposed to point them in the right direction, but may not
• Federal agencies make thousands of decisions about the workforce every day. A new OPM rule could expand how some of those decisions get made

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An overhaul to the federal workforce’s performance management system is now set in stone. A final rule from the Office of Personnel Management removes a previous ban on using forced distribution system. It also prohibits employees from challenging the ratings they receive. OPM's new rule marks the first major update to performance management in decades. Here with more, Federal News Network’s Drew Friedman.

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A new Defense Department inspector general report finds that the military services have policies for reviewing allegations of abuse at on-base child development centers, but they don't always carry them out the same way. Investigators found inconsistent communication between Family Advocacy Programs and child care officials, leaving some installations without timely information needed to make staffing decisions or update parents. The watchdog warns those gaps can keep classrooms understaffed, reduce child care capacity and ultimately affect military readiness. Joining Eric White now to break down the report and what it means for military families is Federal News Network's Rachel Cohen.

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When agencies define requirements clearly, industry can respond with better solutions and fewer surprises. When they don't, costs rise and timelines slip. The Professional Services Council has been measuring those trends and recently issued their new acquisition scorecard. PSC CEO Jim Carroll joins me now with more details.

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Today on the Federal Drive with Terry Gerton

• The Veterans Health Administration is modernizing everything from clinical systems to care coordination. But the real test is whether veterans and providers actually experience a better healthcare system
• Federal agencies are being asked to move faster, but speed starts with something more basic: a good business forecast

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For years, VA modernization conversations have focused on systems and software. John Bartrum says the more important question is what veterans and clinicians experience when those systems either help care flow or get in the way. I spoke with the VA's departing under secretary for health about where technology can improve care delivery across the nation's largest healthcare system.

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Last year, hundreds of Department of Homeland Security employees were reassigned to different jobs. Some were shifted over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to bolster the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Now, the DHS inspector general is looking at whether those reassignments were done legally. For more, Federal News Network’s Justin Doubleday joins me.

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The Defense Department significantly reduced the size of its civilian workforce in 2025. The department however, started shedding its employees prior to 2025. A government watchdog found that the Pentagon didn’t consistently analyze the impacts of these reductions, either during the 2025 downsizing or in prior years. It also found that the Pentagon has no plan to assess lessons learned from its 2025 workforce reduction efforts. For more, Federal News Network’s Anastasia Obis spoke with Government Accountability Office’s director of defense capabilities and management Kristy Williams.

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