Federal Reports

Historically, only certain groups of individuals who had incomes and assets below certain thresholds were eligible for Medicaid (traditional coverage groups). After the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), many beneficiaries remained eligible under these traditional coverage groups. We refer to these beneficiaries as "non-newly eligible beneficiaries."

We reviewed the oversight of opioid prescribing and the monitoring of opioid use in Washington State. This factsheet shows Washington State's responses to our questionnaire covering five categories related to its approach to addressing the opioid epidemic: policies and procedures, data analytics, outreach programs, and other efforts. The information in this factsheet, along with information from seven additional States, will be summarized in a report to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD) Chief of Staff requested a review to determine whether Federal Protective Service (FPS) inspectors’ positions were classified correctly for purposes of earning overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Although properly classified as non-exempt, inspectors’ excessive use of overtime does raise significant concerns. Specifically, 11 of the 19 inspectors reviewed frequently worked multiple 17- to 21-hour shifts with no days off in between. This kind of extensive overtime allowed seven inspectors to earn more than the most senior executives in the Federal Government, with three earning more than the Vice President of the United States. Furthermore, FPS’ increasing use of overtime contributed to a projected budget shortfall for fiscal year 2018, potentially putting the FPS mission at risk. The inspectors were able to accumulate the extensive overtime because of poor internal controls, such as management not monitoring the use of overtime.