Federal Reports

We identified 16 allegations of race-based harassment involving cadets between 2013 and 2018 that the Coast Guard Academy (the Academy) was aware of and had sufficient information to investigate and address through internal hate and harassment procedures. The OIG identified issues in how the Academy addressed 11 of them. First, in six incidents, the Academy did not thoroughly investigate the allegations, and/or did not discipline cadets when investigations documented violations of cadet regulations or Coast Guard policy. In two of these instances, cadets committed similar misconduct again. The Academy also did not fully include civil rights staff as required in six instances (including two of the instances noted previously). Therefore, civil rights staff could not properly track these incidents to proactively identify trends and offer the Academy assistance. In addition, in one incident involving a potential hate allegation, the Academy did not follow the Coast Guard process for hate incidents. Finally, our review determined that race-based harassment is underreported at the Academy for various reasons, including concerns about negative consequences for reporting allegations. Underreporting is especially concerning because our questionnaire results and interviews indicate harassing behaviors continue at the Academy. We made five recommendations that will enhance the Academy’s ability to address harassment and hate allegations, including ensuring the Academy consistently investigates allegations, requiring the reasons for disciplinary decisions be documented after race- or ethnicity-based harassment investigations, informing civil rights staff of all misconduct that could reasonably relate to race or ethnicity; and improving training related to preventing and addressing race-based or ethnicity-based harassment or hate incidents. The Coast Guard concurred with all recommendations.

The OIG conducted this mandated review to assess VA’s reporting of staffing and vacancy data on its public-facing website. VA is required to release this information publicly each quarter by the VA MISSION Act of 2018 (the Act). The review team found VA partially complied with Section 505 of the Act. VA reported time-to-hire data using a 100-day target instead of the Office of Personnel Management’s required 80-day target. However, VA implemented sufficient corrective actions to close three of the five recommendations from the OIG’s June 2019 report. In doing so, VA ensured compliance with reporting requirements for vacancies and employee gains and losses. Vacancies were reported by specific occupational series as required, allowing the public to see whether unfilled positions were greater in clinical or nonclinical roles. Additionally, VA properly published staffing gains and losses by quarter, as opposed to fiscal year to date. VA also improved transparency and usefulness of its data. All seven quarterly staffing and vacancy publications were posted on VA’s public website. Furthermore, in the three most recent quarterly releases, VA provided an executive summary with a brief data element synopsis for its administrations and staff offices. Finally, VA added a summary page to the staffing and vacancy spreadsheets that provided the reader with information on how to interpret the data, overall figures for the previous quarterly data releases, and the top five vacant occupations in the Veterans Health Administration. However, action is still needed to close recommendations on disclosing data limitations and updating the methodology for aggregation and reporting. The OIG recommended the assistant secretary for human resources and administration ensure that time to hire data are reported as required and confer with the Office of General Counsel to ensure that changes in reporting methodology adhere to the Act.

The Office of the Inspector General conducted a review of the Financial Operations and Performance (FO&P) organization to identify factors that could impact FO&P’s organizational effectiveness. Our report identified behaviors that positively affected FO&P. These included leadership actions and other drivers of engagement, such as positive relationships with team members and the use of an employee-driven recognition program. We also identified risks to operations that, although minimal, if left unaddressed, could hinder FO&P’s effectiveness. These included (1) risks to adequate information sharing among FO&P departments and effective customer service and (2) perceived risks to achievement of FO&P’s initiatives and operations.

Medicaid telemedicine services are health services delivered via telecommunication systems. A Medicaid patient located at a patient site uses audio and video equipment to communicate with a physician or licensed practitioner located at a distant site. Medicaid views telemedicine services as a cost-effective alternative to the more traditional face-to-face way of providing medical care.