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Federal Reports
Report Date
Agency Reviewed / Investigated
Report Title
Type
Location
Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board
U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board's Compliance in Fiscal Year 2020 with Improper Payments Legislation and Guidance
Audit of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' Confidential Informant Master Registry and Reporting System Pursuant to the Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014, Fiscal Year 2020
Audit of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' Information Security Program Pursuant to the Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014, Fiscal Year 2020
Audit of the National Security Division's Foreign Agents Registration Act System Pursuant to the Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014, Fiscal Year 2020
Audit of the National Security Division's Information Security Program Pursuant to the Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014, Fiscal Year 2020
The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) reviewed key aspects of VA’s spina bifida program in response to congressional and other concerns that eligible individuals may not be receiving the compensation, healthcare, home services, and other benefits to which they are entitled. Monthly payments under this relatively small but critical program (serving more than 1,000 beneficiaries) exceeded $20.8 million in 2019, with medical reimbursements of over $45 million.Spina bifida occurs when a fetus’s spine and spinal cord do not form properly. Children born with spina bifida may receive VA benefits such as monthly payments, home services, and health care if one of their biological parents is a veteran presumed to have been exposed to herbicides during the Vietnam War.The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) determines eligibility for spina bifida benefits and issues monthly payments. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) covers all medically necessary health care.The OIG found VBA staff generally decided spina bifida benefit claims accurately. However, program offices in VBA and VHA did not adequately communicate or share data, contributing to beneficiaries receiving improper payments after their deaths and delays in new beneficiaries being enrolled in health care. Further, individuals with spina bifida and their caretakers did not receive needed information about benefits because VA did not consistently reach out and accurately communicate with them.The OIG made four recommendations related to preventing payments to deceased beneficiaries through better coordination between the Denver VBA regional benefits office and VHA’s Office of Community Care, ensuring all eligible beneficiaries are promptly enrolled in health care, making certain that agents for national call centers consistently provide accurate and comprehensive benefits information, and engaging eligible beneficiaries who are not aware of or using services.
Service standards are the Postal Service’s stated delivery performance goals for each mail class measured in days from point of entry into the mailstream to final destination. These standards are one of the primary operational goals or benchmarks against which the Postal Service measures its performance. The Postal Service defines misrouted or missent mail as mail sent from an originating facility to the wrong destinating facility. For example, mail originating in Albany, NY, that is addressed to Tampa, FL, but is received in San Francisco, CA. Our objective was to determine why there is misrouted mail and its impact on the Postal Service.
