Federal Reports

This Office of Inspector General (OIG) Comprehensive Healthcare Inspection Program report describes the results of a focused evaluation of the quality of care delivered in the inpatient and outpatient settings of the VA Black Hills Health Care System, which includes the Fort Meade and Hot Springs VA Medical Centers and multiple outpatient clinics in Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. 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 four recommendations for improvement in three areas:1. Medical staff privileging• Completion of Ongoing Professional Practice Evaluations• Review of Ongoing Professional Practice Evaluation data and documents2. Environment of care• Completion of environment of care inspections3. Mental health• Completion of Comprehensive Suicide Risk Evaluations

This Office of Inspector General (OIG) Comprehensive Healthcare Inspection Program report describes the results of a focused evaluation of the care provided at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, which includes the Lieutenant Colonel Charles S. Kettles VA Medical Center and multiple outpatient clinics in Michigan and Ohio. This evaluation focused on five key operational areas:• Leadership and organizational risks• Quality, safety, and value• Medical staff privileging• Environment of care• Mental health (focusing on suicide prevention initiatives)The OIG issued one recommendation for improvement in the Mental Health area of review regarding ensuring providers complete the Comprehensive Suicide Risk Evaluation on the same calendar day as a patient’s positive suicide risk screen in all ambulatory care settings.

Review of the Federal Labor Relations Authority's Implementation of the Remote Work Pilot Program

We conducted this work as part of our ongoing inspection with the objective to conduct integrated oversight of the funding provided to Forest Service's Restoration Projects on Federal and Non-Federal Land from Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).

As part of the Delivering for America 10-year plan, the U.S. Postal Service is making significant investments in Regional Processing and Distribution Centers (RP&DCs) to modernize its network. The goal of this initiative is to standardize and modernize mail and package processing and improve service reliability and cost efficiency across the nation. The Postal Service opened one RP&DC in calendar year 2023 and is projecting to open about 60 through calendar year 2028. With the implementation of these new facilities nationwide, it will be important for the Postal Service to have a standardized process to relocate mail processing equipment timely and verify accurate accountability of its assets.

This SBA OIG pandemic oversight report reviewed the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Restaurant Revitalization Fund application review and approval process. The objective of this review was to determine whether the controls SBA implemented to award RRF program funds in accordance with the Act and other applicable guidance were effective. SBA developed an implementation plan including a risk framework that was intended to reduce the risk of making improper payments and awarding Restaurant Revitalization Funds (RRF) to ineligible recipients. However, the plan did not include all program requirements and SBA did not always adhere to the plan or have sufficient controls to ensure program and statutory requirements were met by RRF applicants.Beginning in May 2021, SBA received 278,300 RRF applications requesting $72.2 billion in relief payments. SBA approved approximately 101,000 applications and disbursed all $28.6 billion authorized for the program. After accounting for award amounts that we questioned for more than one eligibility requirement, we determined that SBA disbursed nearly $6.7 billion to applicants without sufficiently verifying they were eligible for award.We made five recommendations for SBA to improve the use of data to reduce risks of making improper payments, and to review and recover funds awarded to applicants that did not meet eligibility requirements or received funds that exceeded statutory limits. SBA management agreed or partially agreed with all five recommendations.