Federal Reports

A ticket agent resigned on April 5, 2018, prior to an administrative hearing, for stealing money from a cash drawer at Amtrak’s Los Angeles Union Station. Our investigation determined that the employee would wait until train conductors electronically scanned passengers’ tickets and would then reset the ticket’s status as if it had not been scanned at all. This process of resetting the tickets’ status allowed the tickets to be refunded or exchanged. Subsequently, the employee processed the tickets for cash refunds, taking and keeping the money from the cash drawer.

Medicare paid a total of $17.6 million in telehealth payments in 2015, compared with $61,302 in 2001. Medicare telehealth payments include a professional fee, paid to the practitioner performing the service at a distant site, and an originating-site fee, paid to the facility where the beneficiary receives the service. A Medicare Payment Advisory Commission study of 2009 claims found that Medicare professional fee claims without associated claims for originating-site facility fees were more likely to be associated with unallowable telehealth payments. We analyzed 2014 and 2015 (our audit period) telehealth claims and found that more than half of the professional telehealth claims paid by Medicare did not have matching originating-site facility fee claims. Therefore, we focused our review on telehealth claims billed through a distant site that did not have a corresponding originating-site fee.

As required by the Improper Payments Information Act (IPIA) of 2002, as amended, we reviewed PBGC's compliance with improper payment requirements. For this FY, PBGC assessed Payments to Federal Employees and determined the payment streams were not susceptible to significant improper payments. We determined that PBGC is compliant with the improper payment requirements.

We found that the goal-sharing award program, however well-intended, has not resulted in a significant and sustained improvement in overall customer satisfaction. The program is not effectively designed to provide the desired impact on the agency’s mission—improved customer satisfaction. Although PBGC has met the goal at least once a year, PBGC has not reviewed the results of the incentive program to determine if the program is resulting in desired sustained improvements. Based on our analysis, we recommend PBGC discontinue the goal-sharing program. PBGC agreed with the recommendation and plans completion by May 30, 2018.