Federal Reports

This Office of Inspector General (OIG) Healthcare Facility Inspection program report describes the results of a focused evaluation of the care provided at the VA Northport Healthcare System in New York. This evaluation focused on five key content domains:
• Culture
• Environment of care
• Patient safety
• Primary care
• Veteran-centered safety net

The OIG made two recommendations for improvement in one domain.
1. Environment of care
• Secure all medications and the supplies used to administer medications in the Emergency Department
• Confirm staff are knowledgeable about how the lobby kiosks function to assist veterans with sensory impairments

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted penetration testing concurrently with our fiscal year 2024 Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 (FISMA) evaluation. The objective of the penetration testing evaluation was to test the technical implementation of a limited set of security controls for a selection of HUD information systems and applications: the Office of Housing’s Federal Housing Administration Catalyst system, the Office of the Chief Financial Officer’s Line of Credit Control System (LOCCS), the Office of Community Planning and Development’s Disaster Recovery Grant Reporting (DRGR) system, and the Office of Public and Indian Housing’s National Standards for the Physical Inspection of Real Estate (NSPIRE) system.

Our assessment identified nine significant weaknesses related to data protection and website security, underscoring the need to strengthen technical security controls. To address these findings, we provide 13 new recommendations, which will be formally tracked by our office, and 7 opportunities for improvement. These recommendations are designed to enhance HUD’s IT security posture by preventing unauthorized data access, ensuring the integrity and confidentiality of sensitive information, and protecting against web-based threats.

OIG has determined that this report contains sensitive information and is therefore not appropriate for public disclosure.

Our Objective(s)To determine whether (1) Weaver and Tidwell, L.L.P.'s audit work complied with the Single Audit Act of 1984, as amended, the Office of Management and Budget's Uniform Guidance, and the extent to which we could rely on the auditor's work on the U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) major programs, and (2) the Dallas Area Rapid Transit's (DART) reporting package complied with the reporting requirements of the Uniform Guidance.
Why This AuditDuring the fiscal year that ended on December 31, 2022, DART expended approximately $380 million from DOT programs. Weaver and Tidwell determined DOT's major programs were FTA's Federal Transit Cluster and FRA's Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements Program. We performed a quality control review on the single audit that Weaver and Tidwell conducted to verify compliance with Federal laws and regulations.
What We FoundReview of Audit Work

Weaver and Tidwell complied with the requirements of the Single Audit Act, the Office of Management and Budget's Uniform Guidance, and DOT's major programs.
We found nothing to indicate that Weaver and Tidwell's opinion on DOT's major programs were inappropriate or unreliable.

Review of Reporting Package.

We did not identify any deficiencies that required correction and resubmission.

RatingWe assigned Weaver and Tidwell an overall rating of Pass.

The U.S. Postal Service has service standards or timeliness goals for delivering mail after receiving it from a customer. The delivery service standard for First‑Class Mail varies between two to five days, depending on the distance it travels. For First‑Class Mail that is both collected and delivered within the same district (turnaround mail) the standard is two days. The Postal Service’s goal is to deliver at least 92.5 percent of First‑Class Mail within the service standard.

This Office of Inspector General (OIG) Healthcare Facility Inspection program report describes the results of a focused evaluation of the care provided at the Durham VA Health Care System. This evaluation focused on five key content domains:
   •    Culture
   •    Environment of care
   •    Patient safety
   •    Primary care
   •    Veteran-centered safety net

The OIG issued 11 recommendations for improvement in two domains:
1.    Environment of care
   •    High-alert medications in a secure or locked area
   •    Expired medical supplies and clean supply areas
   •    Cleaning and disinfection
   •    Safety of crossing area
   •    Accurate directories
   •    Navigational features for sensory-impaired veterans
   •    Staff communication with sensory-impaired veterans
   •    Environment of care trends
2.    Patient safety
   •    Joint Patient Safety Reporting system
   •    Communication and follow-up for urgent, noncritical abnormal test results
   •    Patient safety trends