Federal Reports

The OIG investigated allegations that a former Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) official had targeted, bullied, and physically threatened U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) employees while at the DOI and that the official spoke in an unprofessional or threatening manner to senior DOI staff. As part of our investigation, we reviewed historical complaints against the official, and attempted to determine what his superiors knew about the history of complaints concerning his behavior and how they responded to those complaints.We identified examples of the official behaving unprofessionally and demonstrating questionable leadership when communicating with other employees. We ended our investigation after the official resigned.During our investigation, we found that a senior DOI official spoke with the BIA official regarding his behavior before our investigation, but the senior DOI official did not document any corrective action.

The Open Payments program promotes transparency by making available to the public the financial relationships that physicians and teaching hospitals have with applicable manufacturers and group purchasing organizations. Although these financial relationships may provide important opportunities to increase medical research and enhance medical knowledge, they also can raise concerns because of their potential to influence the decision-making of health care providers. The transparency of the Open Payments program reveals the nature and extent of these relationships and has the potential to discourage the development of inappropriate financial relationships. However, the program can benefit the public only if the data reported are complete and accurate.