Federal Reports

The Oklahoma Health Care Authority (State agency) did not always pay electronic health record (EHR) incentive program payments to eligible hospitals in accordance with Federal and State requirements for program years 2011 and 2012. Specifically, the State agency overpaid seven hospitals a total of $1.1 million and underpaid four hospitals a total of $402,000, for a net overpayment of $680,000.

The Office of the Inspector General found Coal and Gas Services (CGS) met its reliability metrics for gas and coal in fiscal year (FY) 2015 through January, FY 2016. However, some of its cost-effectiveness and fuel flexibility targets during the same period were not met because of outside factors. We identified strengths related to (1) employee teamwork, (2) management support of its employees, (3) employee engagement, and (4) working relationships with other TVA organizations. However, we also identified issues that if left unresolved could negatively impact CGS's effectiveness both now and in the future. Specifically, we identified employee perceptions concerning management favoritism and lack of transparency in specific areas which could be the result of alignment and goal measurement issues in CGS performance reviews. In addition, we noted conditions that could negatively affect business relationships with gas pipeline companies and result in increased transportation risk. Finally, we identified issues related to knowledge transfer. TVA management agreed with our findings and recommendations and provided planned actions to address our recommendations.

This is our final report on OIG's audit of NOAA's IT systems in response to a significant cyber attack that took place in September 2014. We conducted this audit to (1) determine the significant factors that contributed to the successful cyber attack on NOAA information systems and (2) evaluate NOAA’s handling of the detection, analysis, eradication, and reporting of the attack, as well as recovery from it.

we reported that the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction improved its oversight of LEA single audit resolution during the period covered by our review and noted that several aspects of its oversight were effective. However, we also identified specific aspects of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction’s oversight that could be improved to correct control weaknesses and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. We found that the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction did not have adequate written policies and procedures that described all aspects of its oversight of the LEA audit resolution process, an adequate system for tracking LEA findings acrossaudit periods or across the State, or a quality assurance process for its oversight of LEA audit resolution. Finally, we noted that management decisions for LEA audit findings did not meet all Federal content requirements.

The New Jersey Department of Human Services (State agency) did not always pay electronic health record (EHR) incentive payments in accordance with Federal and State requirements. The State agency made incorrect EHR incentive payments to 15 hospitals totaling $2.5 million. Specifically, the State agency overpaid 10 hospitals a total of $2.4 million and underpaid 5 hospitals a total of $137,000 for a net overpayment of almost $2.3 million. Because the incentive payment is calculated once and then paid out over 3 years, payments made after September 30, 2013, will also be incorrect. The adjustments to these payments total $514,000. Additionally, the State agency did not report one professional incentive payment to the National Level Repository (NLR). The State agency correctly paid the five professional groups we reviewed.

To see our report, click on the link below

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

This final report details the results of our audit of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Intellectual Property (IP) Attaché Program. Specifically, our objective was to assess management controls over the Attaché Program.

The AOC OIG reviewed the system of internal safeguards and management procedures for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Office of Inspector General (OIG), Office of lnvestigations in effect for the period ending June 9, 2016. In the AOC OIG's opinion, the system of internal safeguards and management procedures for the FTC OIG Office of Investigations in effect as of June 9, 2016, was compliant with the quality standards established by the CIGIE and the applicable Attorney General guidelines.

A Kansas physical therapy practice (the Therapy Practice) claimed Medicare reimbursement for some outpatient physical therapy services that did not meet Medicare reimbursement requirements. Of the 100 beneficiary days in our random sample, the Therapy Practice properly claimed Medicare reimbursement on 71 beneficiary days. The Therapy Practice improperly claimed Medicare reimbursement on the remaining 29 beneficiary days. (A beneficiary day consisted of all outpatient therapy services provided on a specific date of service for a specific beneficiary, for which the therapist received a payment from Medicare.)

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

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

The Office of the Inspector General audited local rate adjustments processed during fiscal year 2015 to determine if TVA's process for reviewing Local Power Company (LPC) rate change requests complied with the approved Revised Rate Review Process (RRRP) in the TVA regulatory policy. We found TVA's process for reviewing LPC rate change requests did not comply with the approved RRRP in the TVA regulatory policy due to improper and unapproved calculations of the Guideline Amount in two areas. We also noted the method used to initially calculate an LPC's cash ratio excluded loans and investments of electric system funds to third parties. We recommended TVA's Vice President, Operational and Regulatory Assurance calculate the Guideline Amount as stated in the RRRP or obtain approval for the current calculation method and include any loans or investments of electric system funds in the initial calculation to determine the LPC's cash ratio.

Although the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Division of Health Care Finance (State agency) generally complied with Federal Medicaid requirements for invoicing manufacturers for rebates for physician-administered drugs dispensed to enrollees of Medicaid managed-care organizations (MCOs), it did not invoice all rebate-eligible physician-administered drugs dispensed to enrollees of MCOs. Specifically, the State agency did not invoice manufacturers for rebates totaling $63,000 ($36,000 Federal share). These errors occurred because the State agency's internal controls did not always ensure that it invoiced manufacturers to collect rebates.

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

Home Health VNA (the Agency) (located in Lawrence, Massachusetts) did not comply with Medicare billing requirements for 105 of the 497 home health claims we reviewed. As a result, the Agency received net overpayments of $314,000 for calendar years 2011 and 2012. Specifically, the Agency incorrectly billed Medicare because beneficiaries were not homebound, beneficiaries did not require skilled services, documentation from the certifying physicians was missing or insufficient to support the services the Agency provided, or, in one instance, a claim contained an incorrect payment code. These errors occurred primarily because the Agency did not have adequate controls to prevent the incorrect billing of Medicare claims within selected risk areas.

The Cybersecurity Act of 2015 (Cybersecurity Act) requires the Inspector General of each covered agency to collect and report to Congress information about the covered agency's covered systems within 240 days of the enactment of the Cybersecurity Act. A covered agency is an agency that operates a covered system, which is a Federal computer system that provides access to classified information or personally identifiable information. Reportable areas include logical access controls, multifactor authentication, and information security management practices regarding the covered systems.

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

Logistics is emerging as a prime means for posts and their partners to enhance their offerings, which could be critical in the face of changing and declining mail volumes. The continued growth of ecommerce packages is stretching the capacity of the logistics and transportation systems. The logistics industry is quickly growing and represents significant opportunities and risks to the Postal Service. Many aspects of the logistics industry are central to the Postal Service’s core business. By expanding its logistics offerings, the Postal Service could better retain or grow its package delivery business.

During our audit of the Alabama Medicaid Agency's (State agency) hospital certified public expenditures (CPEs) program for fiscal year (FY) 2010, we noticed that the State agency had claimed, for FYs 2010 and 2011, more than $5 million in Federal funds related to CPEs for three hospitals that appeared to be private hospitals. The three hospitals were owned but not operated by State or local governments.The State's definition of a public hospital indicates that a facility only has to be owned by a public entity, regardless of whether the facility is operated by a public entity or whether State or local government funds are used in its operation. As a result, the State agency received more than $5 million in Federal funding by claiming CPEs from the three hospitals, even though no State or local government funding was used to operate the hospitals.We are concerned that (1) the Federal Government is matching funds from private entities with no true State or local government funds involved and (2) State Governments can benefit financially from publicly owned but privately operated entities because the Federal Government has not provided a clear definition of "public funds" or "contributing public agency."We suggest that CMS consider requiring that, to certify public expenditures as the State's share of Medicaid expenditures, an entity be operated by a unit of government.

The Office of the Inspector General previously conducted a review of Corporate Accounting (Evaluation Report 2015-15313, issued November 5, 2015) to identify operational and cultural strengths and areas for improvement that could impact Corporate Accounting's organizational effectiveness. Our report identified several operational and cultural areas for improvement and included recommendations to address this. In response, we received Corporate Accounting's management decision on January 4, 2016. The objective of this follow-up review was to assess management's actions taken to address areas for improvement since our initial review. In summary, we determined actions taken by Corporate Accounting appear to have addressed the areas for improvement identified during our initial organizational effectiveness review. In addition, employees felt management's actions taken to date have resulted in positive change

ARC initiated actions such as including all projects in metrics determinations, identification of performance measures for all grants emphasizing relevant documentation to support evidence of performance measures, inclusion of all grants as subject to validation visits and dissemination and discussion of performance measure results at the annual Development District of Appalachia Conference

Cybersecurity

(Redacted) OIG Report on FTC Covered Systems Required by the Cybersecurity Act of 2015