Federal Reports

We investigated allegations that a senior political employee of the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) violated a Federal ethics pledge by meeting with a former employer during the required 2-year recusal period following the senior employee’s resignation from that organization. We also investigated whether this senior employee’s attendance at events hosted by the organization violated the section of the standards of ethical conduct for executive branch employees that governs the receipt of gifts from outside sources.We found that the senior employee attended two events hosted by the organization, and we determined that this was permissible under Federal gift rules for executive branch employees. In addition, we obtained no evidence that official DOI matters were discussed with the senior employee at either of the events; therefore, the senior employee’s actions on these occasions did not implicate Federal ethics rules or the ethics pledge.We provided a report on our investigation to the Chief of Staff for the Office of the Secretary for any action deemed appropriate.

As the Nation continues to struggle with the opioid crisis, it is vital to gain a deeper understanding of those who are at risk of misuse or overdose. The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic makes the need to look at this population even more pressing. The National Institutes of Health recently issued a warning that individuals with opioid use disorder could be particularly hard hit by COVID-19, as it is a disease that attacks the lungs. Respiratory disease is known to increase the mortality risk among people taking opioids.

What We Looked AtWe queried and downloaded 94 single audit reports prepared by non-Federal auditors and submitted to the Federal Audit Clearinghouse between January 1, 2020, and March 31, 2020, to identify significant findings related to programs directly funded by the Department of Transportation (DOT). What We FoundWe found that the reports contained a range of findings that affected DOT programs. The auditors reported significant noncompliance with Federal guidelines related to 17 grantees that require prompt action from DOT’s Operating Administrations (OA). The auditors also identified questioned costs totaling $2,227,535 for seven grantees. RecommendationsWe recommend that DOT coordinate with the impacted OAs to develop a corrective action plan to resolve and close the findings identified in this report. We also recommend that DOT determine the allowability of the questioned transactions and recover $2,227,535, if applicable.

Prior OIG audits identified significant overpayments to hospital outpatient providers for nonphysician services furnished shortly before or during inpatient stays. In those audits, we recommended that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recover overpayments, ensure that edits to prevent such overpayments were in place and working properly, and educate providers on the proper billing of nonphysician outpatient services. CMS generally concurred with our recommendations and implemented them. However, our analysis of recent claim data indicated that overpayments for nonphysician outpatient services might still be occurring. We performed this audit as a followup to our previous work.

Two senior-level employees in Washington, D.C., were counseled about misuse of company email as a result of an OIG investigation. The investigation found that the employees violated company policy by inappropriately using company e-mail to make political statements and to sending politically biased content to each other and to co-workers. The employees were counseled that personal political opinions should be kept separate and should not be associated with their Amtrak employment.