Federal Reports

We selected Gracie Station based on our analysis of stop-the-clock (STC) scan data from the Product Tracking and Reporting (PTR) system. Specifically, we used geolocation data to identify packages with STC scans with a scan event of “Delivered” that occurred at the delivery unit property instead of the intended delivery address. The unit had 10,421 scans of “Delivered” at the delivery unit in fiscal year (FY) 2019, Quarter (Q) 3. Our objective was to evaluate the package delivery scanning process on select routes at Gracie Station

We issued this to (1) determine whether the Social Security Administration (SSA) made payments to beneficiaries and representative payees who were deceased according to New Mexico Department of Health vital records and (2) identify non-beneficiaries who were deceased according to the State file but whose death information did not appear in the Agency’s records.

Three Amtrak employees in Los Angeles, California, were terminated from employment on May 15, 2019, June 19, 2019, and September 5, 2019, following administrative hearings for violating company policies. Our investigation found that these employees changed their employment codes in the company’s electronic time keeping system resulting in an unauthorized increase in pay. One employee received an overpayment of over $35,000.00, another received an overpayment of over $23,000.00 and the final employee received an overpayment of over $21,000.00.

CMS could use Comprehensive Error Rate Testing (CERT) data to identify high-risk home health agencies (HHAs) as a part of a multifaceted approach that includes targeted probe-and-educate reviews as well as aspects of its Fraud Prevention System to further reduce improper payments and the error rate for claims paid to HHAs. Using nationally reported CERT program data for fiscal years (FYs) 2014 through 2017, we identified 87 high-risk HHAs, which in the CERT sample had an improper payment rate of about 78 percent and approximately $1 million in actual improper payments. Using Medicare program data during this same period, we determined that Medicare paid these 87 HHAs more than $4 billion for services.