Federal Reports

The Child Care and Development Block Grant Act (CCDBG Act) of 2014 added new requirements for States receiving funding from the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) to conduct comprehensive criminal background checks on staff members and prospective staff members of child care providers every 5 years. Criminal background checks requirements apply to any staff member who is employed by a child care provider for compensation or whose activities involve the care or supervision of children or unsupervised access to children.Our objective was to determine whether Virginia's monitoring process ensured provider compliance with State requirements related to criminal background checks established under the CCDBG Act.

Facet-joint injections of an anesthetic with or without a steroid are used to diagnose or treat chronic neck and back pain. A prior Office of Inspector General (OIG) review found that 47 percent of Medicare payments to physicians for facet-joint injections nationwide in calendar year (CY) 2006, or approximately $96 million, did not meet Medicare program requirements. In addition, Noridian Healthcare Solutions, LLC (Noridian), one of the Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs), identified during audits performed in CYs 2016 through 2018 various errors in which physicians did not bill for facet-joint injections in accordance with Medicare requirements. Therefore, we conducted this audit to determine whether Noridian made improper payments for facet-joint injections in Jurisdiction E from January 1, 2018, through May 31, 2019 (audit period).

In recent years, Congress has expressed concerns about the Indian Health Service’s (IHS’s) administrative and financial management of program funds for health services to American Indians and Alaska Natives. Before we could address Congress’ broader concerns, we needed to assess how the 12 IHS Area Offices receive and disburse funds for services provided to Tribal members. We chose to audit the Bemidji Area Office’s (BAO’s) procedures for disbursing IHS funds because it disburses funds to all program types.

On March 27, 2020, the President signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). To date the CARES Act has provided the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) with $909.7 million, which includes direct apportionments of $756 million to support the needs of DOI programs, bureaus, Indian Country, and the Insular Areas, and a $153.7 million transfer from the U.S. Department of Education to the BIE.This report presents the DOI’s progress as of December 31, 2020, in spending CARES Act appropriations. Specifically, the DOI’s expenditures to date total $600,876,882, and its obligations total $668,075,114.We are also monitoring the DOI’s progress on reporting milestones established by the CARES Act and the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

The OIG investigated allegations that an enrolled member of a Native American tribe paid bribes or kickbacks to an elected member of a tribal business committee in exchange for preference on tribal construction contracts.We did not substantiate the allegations. A financial analysis revealed no evidence to suggest the enrolled member received construction contracts awarded by the tribe or that he owned or operated a construction company. We also found no evidence that the enrolled member paid bribes or kickbacks to tribal officials.