Federal Reports

We conducted an attestation review of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s drug control accounting for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2022. We performed this review pursuant to section 705(d) of Public Law 105-277, which requires National Drug Control Program agencies to submit to the Director of ONDCP a detailed accounting of all funds spent by the agencies for National Drug Control Program activities during the previous fiscal year and that the accounting be authenticated by agency Inspectors General before submission. We conducted our attestation review in accordance with attestation standards established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the standards applicable to attestation engagements contained in Government Auditing Standards, issued by the Comptroller General of the United States. Based upon our review, we are not aware of any material modifications that should be made to HUD’s Detailed Accounting Report and Budget Formulation Compliance Report in order for them to be in accordance with (or based on) ONDCP’s Circular, National Drug Control Program Agency Compliance Reviews, dated September 9, 2021.

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) evaluated allegations that VA North Texas Health Care System (VA North Texas) domiciliary substance use disorder treatment program (DOM SUD) staff placed patients on waitlists and failed to offer non-VA community residential care (community residential care) referrals, as required by the Veterans Health Administration (VHA).Domiciliary care is aligned under mental health residential rehabilitation treatment programs (MH RRTPs), which provide 24-hour treatment and rehabilitative services. VA North Texas includes a DOM SUD at the Dallas VA Medical Center (Dallas DOM SUD) and a DOM SUD at the Sam Rayburn Memorial Veterans Center in Bonham (Bonham DOM SUD).The OIG reviewed 15 VA North Texas DOM SUD consults placed for 10 patients and substantiated that staff placed patients on waitlists and failed to offer community residential care referrals. Failure to discuss alternative treatment options, including community residential care, may have contributed to patients’ increased risk of negative outcomes due to delayed access to DOM SUD services.The OIG also determined that the Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 17 Chief Mental Health Officer lacked authority to ensure national MH RRTP policy adherence. Effective oversight is critical to ensuring efficiency of DOM SUD operations and patients’ access to care.The OIG found that the Bonham MH RRTP standard operating procedure was inconsistent with VHA’s scheduling requirements. Further, VA North Texas policy did not include the requirement for staff to ensure a Mental Health Treatment Coordinator (MHTC) assignment for patients awaiting MH RRTP admission.The OIG made two recommendations to the Under Secretary for Health related to VISN MH RRTP oversight and MHTC assignment procedures and three recommendations to the VA North Texas Director related to alternative treatment options when DOM SUD admission wait times exceed 30 days, management of community residential care referrals, and scheduling procedures.

Alain Galette, a resident of Miami, Florida, was sentenced on January 31, 2023, in U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, to 13 months in prison, two years of probation, and was ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution to the Small Business Administration. He previously pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in relation to his application for a Payroll Program Protection (PPP) loan and in obtaining an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) in the amount of $149,900. The PPP loan was in the amount of $163,577 but was denied. Our investigation found that Galette used an invalid social security number and included other false information on the PPP and EIDL applications. Upon receipt of the EIDL funds, Galette did not use the money for authorized purposes.

This report contains information about recommendations from the OIG's audits, evaluations, reviews, and other reports that the OIG had not closed as of the specified date because it had not determined that the Department of Justice (DOJ) or a non-DOJ federal agency had fully implemented them. The list omits information that DOJ determined to be limited official use or classified, and therefore unsuitable for public release.The status of each recommendation was accurate as of the specified date and is subject to change. Specifically, a recommendation identified as not closed as of the specified date may subsequently have been closed.

We have completed a review of the DOI’s progress in implementing our past audit recommendations addressing Government charge card internal controls.

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted a national review to assess elements of the Veterans Health Administration’s (VHA’s) Intensive Community Mental Health Recovery programs (ICMHR). ICMHR provides highly intensive community-based care to veterans with serious mental illness. Visit frequency is a measure of ICMHR service intensity. This review examined the visit frequency for ICMHR-enrolled veterans from April 1, 2019, through March 31, 2021. The time frame represents approximately one year prior to and one year after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the OIG evaluated VHA healthcare systems’ contingency planning for veteran medication access during emergencies.The OIG found ICMHR did not meet VHA’s required visit frequency for high-intensity services. ICMHR staff are expected to have, on average, two to three weekly visits with ICMHR-enrolled veterans, typically in the veterans’ communities or homes, to provide high-intensity services. The OIG reviewed ICMHR-related data from VHA, calculated the weekly average number of visits in a veteran’s treatment period, and found that ICMHR did not meet VHA’s required visit frequency for high-intensity services.The OIG also evaluated VHA’s contingency planning for veteran medication access during emergencies. Community-based programs, such as ICMHR, should have program-specific contingency plans for veterans’ medication access, including to long-acting injectable antipsychotic medications, during emergencies. A disruption in medication access could be destabilizing for veterans with serious mental illness. The OIG found the majority of VHA healthcare systems did not have ICMHR-specific contingency plans for veteran medication access.The OIG made three recommendations to the Under Secretary for Health. The recommendations address ICMHR visit frequency and intensity of care provided; the ongoing role of virtual care in the delivery of ICMHR; and ICMHR-specific contingency planning related to medication access during emergencies, with a focus on long-acting injectable antipsychotic medications.