Federal Reports

Alpha Painting & Construction Company, Inc., an industrial painting and construction company based in Baltimore, was sentenced November 14, 2019, in United States District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, to five-years’ probation, a $500,000 fine, and forfeiture of $10.9 million. Alpha was previously found guilty of conspiracy, wire fraud, and false statements related to a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme.The scheme involved two Pennsylvania Department of Transportation contracts to rehabilitate bridges in the Philadelphia area including the 30th Street Station Bridge and Girard Point Bridge. The terms of the contracts required Alpha to use a qualified Disadvantaged Business Enterprise to provide supplies for the projects. Instead, Alpha used a now defunct DBE as a pass-through to create the appearance that DBE program requirements had been met. In exchange for participating in the scheme, the DBE received a percentage of funds garnered from falsified invoices it submitted, according to court documents. In addition, Alpha falsified invoices from out of state projects including an Amtrak bridge project to use as DBE credits.Agents from Amtrak’s Office of Inspector General, along with the U.S. Department of Transportation OIG, the U.S. Department of Labor OIG, and the FBI investigated the case.

Medicare contractors are required to separately account for the Medicare segment pension plan assets based on the requirements of Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) 412 and 413. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (OIG), Office of Audit Services, Region VII pension audit team reviews the Medicare segment pension assets to ensure compliance with Federal regulations.

Medicare contractors are required to separately account for the Medicare segment pension plan assets based on the requirements of Cost Accounting Standards 412 and 413. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (OIG), Office of Audit Services, Region VII pension audit team reviews the Medicare segment pension assets to ensure compliance with Federal regulations.

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted an inspection in response to a request from Senator Richard Blumenthal to review issues related to Surgical and Sterile Processing Services (SPS) within the VA Connecticut Healthcare System (system). The request came after an unannounced survey of the system by The Joint Commission (TJC) in February 2018 and a subsequent site review by VHA’s National Program Office for Sterile Processing (NPOSP) in May 2018. Both reviews found deficiencies in the system’s SPS. System leaders began an immediate reduction in SPS reprocessing of instruments and limited Surgical Services procedures to focus efforts on correcting the SPS deficiencies. This inspection focused on the implementation of TJC and NPOSP recommendations; SPS standard operating procedures (SOPs), training, competence, and staffing; surgical cancellations and outsourcing to the community; patient safety and undue burden; and surgical and post-operative infection rates. The OIG team identified additional concerns related to leaders’ decision-making and actions, how the current infrastructure (specifically aging buildings) impacted remediation, and the residency program. The OIG made two recommendations to the Veterans Integrated Service Network Director related to oversight of timely completion of the OIG’s recommendations and hiring actions. The OIG made nine recommendations to the System Director related to inclusion of operating room, surgery, and SPS clinical leaders in remediation efforts; an action plan to establish communication, foster collaboration, and restore trust in system leaders; oversight for the timely completion of pending projects impacting Surgical Services; the development, review, and revision of SOPs and a sustainable SOP maintenance process; SPS staff training and competencies; SPS staffing plan maintenance; readiness evaluation of supplies and equipment prior to anesthetizing a patient; evaluation of the impact and identified needs of the residency programs; and collaboration between the System and Veterans Integrated Service Network 1 Director.