The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) moved forward in late July with its effort to collect health data of federal workers and retirees. Originally publicized earlier this year, OPM intends to collect service use and cost data from Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) carriers to “enable OPM to oversee health benefits programs and ensure they provide competitive, quality, and affordable plans.” The record keeping system was implemented on July 24.

FMA National President Linda Lentjes expressed general support with OPM’s oversight efforts in April, while urging strict limits on the collection of individually identifiable health information, citing cybersecurity risks and fears of a chilling effect on workers seeking care. She wrote to OPM Director Scott Kupor to outline the concerns related to the collection of sensitive health data and offered recommendations to ensure privacy.

"Effective government requires both accountability and the protection of individual rights. These goals are not incompatible," Lentjes wrote.

Lentjes commended OPM's push to improve carrier accountability, reduce improper payments, and modernize claims processing. She wrote that FMA supports enhanced audit capabilities, fraud detection, and stronger carrier performance standards as consistent with OPM's statutory mission.

However, Lentjes drew a sharp line at any initiative that would involve broad collection, aggregation, or centralized storage of individually identifiable health information. She warned that such data —including, but not limited to diagnoses, prescriptions, mental health treatment, and reproductive health — could be misused in employment decisions, security clearance reviews, or disciplinary proceedings. She also raised concerns about a potential chilling effect of this initiative: federal employees may avoid seeking mental health care, substance use treatment, or other sensitive services if they fear their records are subject to government surveillance. Additionally, FMA called on OPM to comply fully with HIPAA and the Privacy Act of 1974.

OPM’s revised messaging in July reflects a number of changes to the original proposal. Most notably, OPM says the identities of enrollees will be “pseudonymized,” and identifiable information will be removed, although birth years will be retained. OPM will also maintain an ability to re-identify records for "authorized operational purposes."

FMA urges OPM to continue to take efforts to ensure the privacy of sensitive data and will urge Congress to maintain strict oversight of OPM’s data collection plan.