Federal Reports

This Office of Inspector General (OIG) Comprehensive Healthcare Inspection Program report describes the results of a focused evaluation of the care provided at the Wilmington VA Medical Center in Delaware. This evaluation focused on five key operational areas:• Leadership and organizational risks• Quality, safety, and value• Medical staff privileging• Environment of care• Mental health (suicide prevention initiatives)The OIG issued two recommendations for improvement in the environment of care topic area:• Inspection deficiency resolution tracking• Safe and clean environment

Our objective was to evaluate the process for, cause of, and validity of refunds associated with the PRS product and examine the accuracy of manifested prices — the postage payments consolidators submit based on contractual rates. We conducted site visits and interviews and analyzed package data and consolidator refund requests.

Since the formation of the modern Postal Service in 1971, various laws gave it more retirement liability than other federal agencies. As an independent agency within the federal government, USPS is expected to be self-sustaining and cover costs — including retirement costs — through revenue. Thus, while other federal agencies receive annual congressional appropriations to fund retiree pension and health care benefits, the Postal Service generally receives no direct tax dollars and pays for these expenses from the sale of postal products and services. USPS’s retirement costs are significant — $10 billion in FY 2023 alone.

Marc Hoang, a pharmacist based in West Covina, California, was sentenced on January 8, 2024, in U.S. District Court, Central District of California, for making a false statement related to a health care fraud investigation. Hoang was sentenced to two years’ probation.Our investigation found that Hoang knowingly and willfully made a materially false and fraudulent statement on a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) form. Hoang submitted the form to the DEA to renew the controlled substances registration for his former pharmacy. On the form, Hoang represented that he was the person who distributed the controlled substances and was the officer and point of contact for the pharmacy, when in fact, he was not. Hoang was part of a large health care fraud scheme, in which beneficiaries were solicited to provide their insurance information to a pharmacist for medication they did not seek or need. As a result of the scheme, Amtrak’s health care plan was billed $32,489 of which $26,962 was paid, and Tricare, the U.S. military’s health care plan, paid $12,264,685 on the fraudulently submitted claims.