Federal Reports

The OIG’s Mental Health Inspection Program (MHIP) evaluates Veterans Health Administration’s (VHA’s) continuum of mental healthcare services. This inspection focused on care delivered on the inpatient mental health unit at the VA Salem Healthcare System in Virginia. 

The inpatient unit had some aspects of a recovery-oriented physical environment, including artwork, natural lighting, and secure outdoor spaces. The local recovery coordinator was integrated into recovery-oriented activities and staff provided the required interdisciplinary programming on weekdays but not on weekends. 

The facility had an established local Mental Health Executive Council; however, the OIG could not verify that all required participants attended meetings. The facility had an admission procedure that addressed involuntary hospitalization but lacked a written process to monitor and track compliance with involuntary commitment state laws. 

Staff involved veterans in treatment planning, but did not comply with requirements to document medication risks and benefits discussions. Staff also did not consistently complete suicide screening within 24 hours before discharge, complete or review safety plans, or consistently address ways to make veterans’ environments safer from lethal means beyond access to firearms and opioids. Many staff did not have evidence of completed lethal means safety and suicide risk trainings. Additionally, most discharge instructions included abbreviations that could be difficult for veterans to understand.

The OIG was unable to determine whether Interdisciplinary Safety Inspection Team members completed the required environment of care training. Staff reported using a restraint chair; while the facility had a local policy on the use of restraints, it did not include the use of restraint chairs. 

As a result of its findings, the OIG issued 15 recommendations to facility leaders. These recommendations, once addressed, may improve the quality and delivery of veteran-centered, recovery-oriented care on the inpatient mental health unit.

The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee’s (PRAC) Semiannual Report to Congress, covering the period from October 1, 2024 through March 31, 2025.

Why We Did This Report

Under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, or IIJA, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was provided with over $60 billion in appropriations for Agency programs, including the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Programs, the Superfund Program, geographic programs, and more. Since the IIJA’s enactment, the EPA Office of Inspector General has been conducting timely and relevant oversight to ensure that IIJA funds—taxpayer dollars—are used effectively. Our third annual IIJA progress report covers February 1, 2024, through January 31, 2025, and provides an update on our oversight of the EPA’s use of IIJA funds.

Summary

This report provides updates on the oversight work the OIG planned, initiated, or completed during its third year of IIJA oversight. It also details the OIG’s declaration of 2025 as the “Year of Innovation” and highlights the OIG's continued efforts to engage IIJA stakeholders. 

Why We Did This Report

This fourth edition of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Inspector General’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Oversight Plan summarizes our ongoing and planned audits, evaluations, and other engagements concerning the EPA’s implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Pub. L. No. 117-58 (2021).

Summary 

This document provides an update to our plan for oversight of the EPA’s implementation of the IIJA.

The 24 projects summarized in this plan relate to the EPA’s IIJA implementation work, although some of these projects have received or will receive partial support from annual appropriations. The appendix to this IIJA Oversight Plan illustrates which of the EPA’s IIJA programs our 24 projects address.