Federal Reports

This audit involved individuals eligible for Medicare who were covered under traditional Medicare in one year but chose to enroll in Medicare Advantage (MA) the following year (transferred enrollees). The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) maps certain diagnosis codes into Hierarchical Condition Categories (HCCs). For transferred enrollees who, while covered under traditional Medicare, receive a diagnosis that maps to an HCC, CMS makes higher payments to MA organizations for the following year.Through data mining and discussions with medical professionals, we have identified several diagnosis codes that were at high risk of being miscoded and resulting in inaccurate payments. For this audit, we focused only on selected acute stroke diagnosis codes (which map to the Ischemic or Unspecified Stroke HCC) that were reported on one physician’s claim without being reported on a corresponding inpatient claim.Our objective was to determine whether selected acute stroke diagnosis codes submitted by physicians under traditional Medicare that CMS later used to make payments to MA organizations on behalf of transferred enrollees complied with Federal requirements.We reviewed 582 of 8,437 transferred enrollees (that we selected with a stratified random sample) who received one instance of a high-risk acute stroke diagnosis code during 2014 or 2015. We had reviews performed to determine whether the medical records supported the submitted diagnosis codes. We relied on these reviews as the basis for our conclusions.

Medicare-allowed charges for noninvasive ventilators increased from $279.9 million in 2016 to $424.4 million in 2018, an increase of 52 percent. We are concerned about the relationship of these increased costs to prices per noninvasive ventilator, and specifically concerned about whether Medicare-allowed charges are comparable with payment rates of select non-Medicare payers.Our objective was to determine whether Medicare-allowed charges for noninvasive ventilators were comparable with payment rates of select non-Medicare payers.

In 2019, carriers delivered nearly 6 billion packages to every corner of America—more than 19 million every day. This represents an 87 percent increase in the U.S. Postal Service’s package volume since 2013, driven by booming ecommerce sales.

The Office of Inspector General assessed NASA’s management of its planetary science portfolio, which consists of 30 space flight missions in various stages of operation, and examined whether its Planetary Science Division is meeting its goals and priorities.

The Postal Service owns and operates a fleet of over 227,000 vehicles. The Postal Service has 7- and 11-ton cargo vans that Postal Vehicle Service (PVS) drivers use to transport mail between facilities and to load/unload mail from cargo vans. In September 2017, the Postal Service began replacing 7- and 11-ton cargo vans and adding new lift gates. A lift gate is a piece of equipment on the rear of a cargo van that helps load/unload mail transport equipment (MTE) containing mail. When the Postal Service replaced the older cargo vans, transportation managers could choose between a tuck under lift gate (84 inches wide by 50 inches long) or rail lift gate (89 inches wide by 54 inches long). Tuck under lift gates tuck beneath the cargo van while rail lift gates fold against the back of the cargo van when not in use. The Postal Service purchased 1,167 tuck under lift gates and 446 rail lift gates on the 7- and 11-ton cargo vans for an estimated total cost of $6.5 million. Our objective was to evaluate the efficiency and safety of lift gates used on U.S. Postal Service cargo vans.

Audit of the NLRB's lapse of its Fiscal Year 2019 appropriation.

In accordance with our annual plan, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) assessed the USCP Threats Assessment Section (TAS) to determine if (1) the organizational structure and training for the Department's management of threats against Protectees was the most efficient and effective and (2) the Department complied with applicable policies and procedures as well as applicable laws, regulations, and best practices. Our scope included the TAS organizational structure, training, processes, and operations during Fiscal Years 2019 and 2020.