Federal Reports

For a covered outpatient drug to be eligible for Federal reimbursement under the Medicaid program’s drug rebate requirements, manufacturers must pay rebates to the States for the drugs. However, a prior OIG review found that States did not always invoice and collect all rebates due for drugs administered by physicians.Our objective was to determine whether Vermont complied with Federal Medicaid requirements for invoicing manufacturers for rebates for physician-administered drugs.

In 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) updated its life safety and emergency preparedness regulations to improve protections for all Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, including residents of long-term-care facilities (commonly called nursing homes). Updates included requirements that nursing homes have expanded sprinkler systems and smoke detector coverage; an emergency preparedness plan that is reviewed, trained on, tested, and updated at least annually; and provisions for sheltering in place and evacuation.

This report presents the results of the System and Organization Controls 1 Type 2 examinationconducted in accordance with Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements No. 18 forthe United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Financial Management Services’ (FMS)description of its financial systems used to process user entities financial transactions throughoutthe period October 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020.

GAO's policy and procedures generally promote competition when soliciting offers and awarding contracts, and follow the Federal Acquisition Regulation when competition is not possible.However, the OIG identified gaps in GAO's policy, procedures, and internal control specific to non-competed contracts. These include gaps in documentation for key roles and responsibilities, errors in reported competition data, and deficiencies in key control activities, such as acquisition planning and the review of contractor proposals. OIG is making five recommendations intended to address these gaps in awarding non-competitive contracts.