Federal Reports

HHS oversees States' use of various Federal programs, including Medicaid. State agencies are required to establish appropriate computer system security requirements and conduct biennial reviews of computer system security used in the administration of State plans for Medicaid and other Federal entitlement benefits (45 CFR § 95.621). This review is one of a number of HHS OIG reviews of States' computer systems used to administer HHS-funded programs. Our objective was to determine whether Alabama adequately secured its Medicaid data and information systems in accordance with Federal requirements.

Seek link below for the full report, report summary, multimedia or any agency follow-up.

Please also see the link below for the DOJ OIG's related Memorandum for the Deputy Attorney General, "Recommendation for a Department of Justice Policy Establishing Standards for its Security Offices to Review Misconduct Investigations for Security Clearance Adjudications," which was issued in conjunction with this report.

This memorandum was issued in conjunction with the DOJ OIG's related "Report of Investigation of the Actions of Former DEA Leadership in Connection with the Reinstatement of a Security Clearance." Please see the link below to access that report.

CNCS-OIG investigation disclosed that YMCA staff violated 45 CFR § 2540.100(f) Nondisplacement, when they knowingly allowed 13 AmeriCorps members to fill vacant staff daycare teachers and assistant teacher positions with the YMCA’s School Age Learning Center program for up to three months until the YMCA could hire suitable employees.Agency management concurred with CNCS-OIG recommendations and took the following action: (1) disallowed and recouped $22,312 in stipend payments disbursed to thirteen members placed in staff positions; (2) disallowed and recouped $22, 237.86 in Segal Education Awards awarded to eight members whose hours included staff displacement; and (3) elevate the risk level of the North Dakota Commission due to the poor program management of the YMCA grant. CNCS management declined to disallow any staff salary used as non-Federal match because the YMCA’s match contribution exceeded the legally required match amount.

OIG conducted a healthcare inspection to evaluate stroke care at the Manchester VA Medical Center (facility), Manchester, NH pursuant to an April 2015 request of Congresswoman Ann McLane Kuster. The request was in response to a Federal court ruling that the facility failed to adequately diagnose and treat a stroke patient when he presented to the Urgent Care Clinic (UCC) in 2010. The purpose of the review was to determine whether system issues may have led to poor care of the patient and to evaluate changes that the facility may have made in response to this incident.We found that the patient should have been transferred to another facility with the capability to perform a complete diagnostic workup and care for stroke patients (acute care facility) and should not have received any diagnostic evaluations at the facility.We found deficiencies with the facility’s Peer Review process. Discussion of the specifics of the deficiencies is prohibited by 38 U.S.C. §5705.To determine compliance with VHA and facility policy and assess whether the system issues from 2010 remain today, we reviewed the records of 23 patients who presented to the UCC with a presumptive stroke between June 2014 and May 2015. UCC providers did not always transfer patients prior to conducting a diagnostic test and did not always designate the patient's primary care provider as a co-signer of the UCC discharge summary. When UCC providers transferred patients with a presumptive stroke to an acute care facility, they did not consistently observe facility managers' expectations to transfer patients to a non-VA acute care hospital, approximately 2.5 miles away (closest acute care hospital). During a follow-up site visit in February 2016, we found that facility managers made system and procedural changes in the UCC.We made three recommendations.