Federal Reports

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act established the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) to facilitate coordination and cooperation among providers and suppliers to (1) improve quality of care for Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries and (2) reduce health care costs. Eligible providers and suppliers may voluntarily participate in the MSSP by creating or joining an accountable care organization (ACO). Beneficiary assignment is the basis for many key MSSP operations, such as determining an ACO's financial performance and reporting quality measures after each performance year (PY). The designated ACO is responsible for the quality and cost of care of its assigned Medicare beneficiaries during a PY. ACOs may be eligible to receive additional payments (i.e., shared savings payments) if they reduce health care costs and meet certain quality performance standards. ACOs may also be responsible for a portion of any shared losses.

Our objective was to assess the accuracy and reliability of In-Office Cost System (IOCS) telephone readings. The IOCS is the primary probability sampling system used by the U.S. Postal Service to attribute the labor costs of clerks, mail handlers, city carriers, and supervisors related to the handling of mail of all classes and rate categories. While the DCTs observed by the OIG during selected site visits generally followed policies and procedures, opportunities exist to improve sampling procedures and controls to enhance the accuracy and reliability of the data.

Southeast Arkansas Community Action Corporation (Southeast) did not always operate its Head Start program in accordance with Federal regulations and did not always manage and account for Federal funds. Specifically, Southeast (1) had ineffective controls and accountability over its assets, (2) used questionable methods to allocate shared costs, (3) did not have required fiscal or legal expertise on its governing board, and (4) claimed some unallowable costs.

Our objective was to evaluate the U.S. Postal Service Greensboro District’s fiscal year (FY) 2016 Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control (DMAIC) Priority Air/Surface continuous improvement process project. Greensboro District management did not comply with DMAIC process requirements or meet its Priority Air/Surface service goal of 96 (out of 100) percent. In the last 20 weeks of the project the achieved service score was 94.01 percent, an improvement of only .02 percent.