Federal Reports

Inspection report on OIG's survey of FCA employees on the safety measures and other actions implemented by FCA in response to COVID-19

This audit report is one in a series of OIG reports addressing the identification, reporting, and investigation of incidents of potential abuse and neglect of our Nation’s most vulnerable populations, including Medicaid beneficiaries in nursing facilities. Nursing facility residents are at an increased risk of abuse or neglect when health care professionals and caregivers fail to report incidents of potential abuse or neglect or when allegations of abuse or neglect are not acted upon in a timely manner.Our objectives were to determine whether California: (1) ensured that nursing facilities reported incidents of potential abuse or neglect of Medicaid beneficiaries transferred from nursing facilities to hospital emergency departments and (2) complied with Federal requirements for recording, prioritizing, and investigating allegations of abuse or neglect.

The objective was to determine whether the Social Security Administration (SSA) resolved the delinquent status of overpayments for beneficiaries identified by the Delinquent Debt Trigger File (DDTF).

OIG reviewed FSA’s program delivery of ECP for the 2017 hurricane-related disasters.

A former Amtrak electrician in Chicago pleaded guilty in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, to Financial Institution Fraud on June 9, 2021. The former employee was sentenced on the same date to one year probation and paid $11,944.44 in restitution to US Bank. Our investigation found that the former employee established a business and used it to engage in fraudulent credit card schemes.

VA’s Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers provides benefits such as monthly stipends to approved caregivers of eligible veterans. The VA MISSION Act of 2018 expanded eligibility for the program from veterans injured on or after 9/11 to include veterans injured in any conflict. The prerequisites to expansion include an information technology (IT) system that fully supports the program. The OIG assessed VA’s efforts to implement this IT system and compliance with schedule and system performance requirements, as well as the development costs.The OIG recognizes VA’s significant efforts and the challenges involved. Millions of veterans, if determined eligible, may be considered for participation in the program. However, the OIG found that VA did not meet the MISSION Act’s October 1, 2018, deadline for implementing an IT system, nor the October 1, 2019, reporting requirement. This was due in part to governance issues and lack of continuity in leadership when upgrading and replacing the legacy system.The new IT system, the Caregiver Record Management Application (CARMA), was implemented on October 1, 2020, two years after the MISSION Act’s requirement.VA informed the OIG on January 22, 2021, that CARMA now includes functionalities that meet MISSION Act requirements. However, the OIG found VA did not establish the appropriate security risk category and fully assess the system’s privacy vulnerabilities.The OIG made four recommendations: (1) establish policies and procedures for joint governance on all IT projects to ensure efforts provide an adequate return on investment and achieve program objectives; (2) enforce an existing process to help IT projects deliver and sustain the intended outcomes, ensuring the Program and Acquisition Review Council evaluates underperforming projects; (3) reevaluate elevating the system’s risk category to better protect health information and other sensitive data; and (4) establish agency-wide policies and responsibilities for managing IT projects.