Open Recommendations

The Under Secretary for Health, in conjunction with Veterans Integrated Service Network directors and facility senior leaders, makes certain that facility surgical work groups meet monthly and core members consistently attend meetings.

We recommend that the California Department of Health Care Services review capitation payments that fell outside of our audit period and refund any unallowable payments.

We recommend that the California Department of Health Care Services ensure that the algorithm used to create its revised Beneficiary Name and DOB Match Reports is effective at detecting individuals with multiple records.

We recommend that the California Department of Health Care Services require county staff to review training materials on the prevention of issuing multiple CINs.

We recommend that the California Department of Health Care Services enhance its controls to ensure that no beneficiary is issued multiple CINs.

OIG recommends that the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) Senior Coordinating Official, in coordination with the Bureau of Consular Affairs, Afghan Special Immigrant Visa Unit, the National Visa Center, and data scientists, revise the Standard Operating Procedures for Quarterly Congressional Reports to include specific steps and procedures for calculating and reporting average processing times for Department of State-controlled stages of the Afghan SIV application process so that reported data reflect the actual average processing times.

OIG recommends the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) Senior Coordinating Official, in coordination with the National Visa Center and the Afghan SIV Unit, design and implement control activities in accordance with the Government Accountability Office’s Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government to monitor, verify, and validate the accuracy and completeness of the Department of State-controlled data used to generate the average processing time reported in the Afghan SIV quarterly reports.

OIG recommends the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) Senior Coordinating Official, in coordination with the Bureau of Consular Affairs, design and implement control activities in accordance with the Government Accountability Office’s Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government to verify and validate the accuracy and completeness of the information obtained from the entities involved with processing Afghan SIV applications.

OIG recommends the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) Senior Coordinating Official (SCO) develop and implement a policy and procedures to establish ongoing interagency coordination with all designated SCOs until the Afghan SIV program concludes.

OIG recommends the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) Senior Coordinating Official (SCO) develop and implement an updated staffing plan to adjust resources for all Department of State offices involved with the Afghan SIV program to reduce the current Afghan SIV application backlog.

OIG recommends the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) Senior Coordinating Official develop a process and procedures to monitor the implementation, effectiveness, and efficiency of the staffing plan for all Department offices involved in the Afghan SIV program to reduce the current Afghan SIV application backlog.

OIG recommends that the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) Senior Coordinating Official (SCO), in collaboration with the Department of Defense (DoD) SCO, establish a memorandum of understanding between the Department of State (Department) SCO and the DoD SCO defining the roles and responsibilities of the Department and DoD for efficiently and accurately collecting employment documentation of Afghan SIV applicants who worked for DoD contractors. The Department and DoD SCOs should also meet regularly to address efficient employment verification until the Department resolves the backlog of Afghan SIV applications.

EEOC should develop a customer service plan to include establishing goals and objectives, developing performance metrics that target the goals, and measuring performance against the goals. This plan must include goals and metrics for the IIG.

EEOC must manage customer expectations by making customer service standards available to the public.

The IIG should explore and implement ways to reduce the call hold time and email response time for customers.

The IIG should design and implement a quality assurance program for customer emails.

OFP should assess the usefulness of generating 846 inquiries (i.e.; return on investment) and assess whether automatic close out in the system is more practical,

OFP should establish guidelines for generating 846 inquiries and other information sharing between the IIG and district offices.

CMS should evaluate how HHAs are using telehealth specifically, the types of services provided via telehealth and the characteristics of patients who benefit from these services.

CMS should to inform decision-making, evaluate how the regulatory flexibilities it has offered in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency affect the quality of home health care.

CMS should in collaboration with ASPR TRACIE, apply lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic to update and/or develop emergency preparedness trainings and materials for HHAs on responding to infectious disease outbreaks.

In conjunction with corrective actions being taken on previous audits, revise ONAP's internal policy and procedures to include detailed written policies and procedures for the marketing, preservation, and sale of defaulted loan notes and REO properties on tribal trust and other restricted lands.

The Office of Cuba Broadcasting should implement a strategic communication plan that conveys journalistic standards objectives and priorities to staff.

The Office of Cuba Broadcasting should create written policies or procedures that define the editorial review process to ensure that all content is reviewed before broadcast.

The Office of Cuba Broadcasting should develop and disseminate to staff written procedures governing how journalistic standards lapses will be addressed, as well as the roles and responsibilities of the various personnel and offices involved.