Ensure that all sites understand and begin immediately stamping the ICT received date after correspondence screening is completed, and that individual and business documents are screened with equal importance.

10 - Open

Coordinate with the Information Technology organization to explore adding Taxpayer Relations inventories into the CII, so that all Accounts Management inventory is located in the same inventory management system.

11 - Closed

The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should establish time frames for and a process to measure correspondence screening timeliness at each site.

12 - Closed

The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should rescind the requirement that only the TEs and the CSRs perform correspondence
screening and encourage all sites to use mail clerks, after providing them with adequate training.

13 - Closed

The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should ensure prompt completion of the ICT review to determine if additional scanners will be
purchased.

2 - Closed

Discontinue correspondence screening via telework and ensure at all sites that screening must be conducted in the same IRS facility where documents are being scanned by the ICT.

3 - Closed

Identify and address the cause of Accounts Management function employees incorrectly routing cases to other IRS functions and work with other IRS functions to update their Internal Revenue Manuals to make it clear that incorrectly routed documents should be returned to the
originating employee.

4 - Closed

We recommended that management take steps to hire as many mail clerks as possible.

5 - Closed

The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should establish goals for each of the Accounts Management function’s inventory types and develop a plan for addressing those goals to ensure a timely return to pre-pandemic inventory levels.

6 - Open

The Commissioner, Wage and Investment, should prioritize funding and implementation of automated processing of Forms 1040-X to increase efficiencies and reduce taxpayer burden.

7 - Closed

The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should implement temporary solutions for the processing of Forms 1040-X to reduce the backlogs, reduce taxpayer burden, and save IRS resources until an automated solution is implemented.

8 - Open

Coordinate with the Information Technology organization to prevent generating transcripts for manual refunds less than $100 and adjust the frequency that some transcripts are generated to help management get through the inventory more efficiently.

9 - Closed

Temporarily relieve employees in the Accounts Management function from having to complete paperwork for barred statutes, so they can focus on eliminating the backlogged inventory and prevent future barred statutes.

Department of Veterans Affairs OIG

VHA Can Improve Controls Over Its Use of Supplemental Funds

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act appropriated about $17.2 billion in supplemental funds to the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) to support VA’s efforts to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. The OIG conducted this audit to assess the effectiveness of VA’s controls over VHA’s use of these funds. Because VA’s financial management system does not support the direct obligation of supplemental funds for all expenses, staff used expenditure transfers to shift funds between appropriation accounts. Expenditure transfers are documented using...

Full Details: Oversight.gov Report Page

Audit | 5/09/2023

01 - Closed

VA’s assistant secretary for management and chief financial officer assess the iFAMS configuration to determine whether integration with the payroll subsystems can be accomplished to resolve some of the payroll-related issues that require the need for expenditure transfers.

01 - Closed

Assess the iFAMS configuration to determine whether integration with the payroll subsystems can be accomplished to resolve some of the payroll-related issues that require the need for expenditure transfers.

02 - Closed

Establish guidance that outlines the type of documentation required to support the amounts identified in the manual journal vouchers when processing expenditure transfers.

03 - Open

VA’s under secretary for health require medical facility staff have documented authority, through proper delegation, to make purchases.

04 - Open

VA’s under secretary for health verify that medical facility staff segregate duties so that the same person is not both authorizing and receiving goods and services.

05 - Open

VA’s under secretary for health make certain the purchase card holder is not the requestor or approver for the purchase.

06 - Open

VA’s under secretary for health ensure contracting officer’s representatives know and understand their duties and responsibilities for the certification and payment of invoices.

07 - Open

VA’s under secretary for health check vendors’ compliance with contract terms to include the comparison of invoiced amounts with the contract line-item unit costs.

08 - Open

VA’s under secretary for health ensure that medical facility staff track the receipt of goods to make certain they are the correct quantity.

09 - Closed

Conduct an assessment of lessons learned from the emergency response to the pandemic and develop appropriate action plans to integrate oversight roles, responsibilities, and clear guidance into the use of supplemental funds.

Department of Health & Human Services OIG

Medicare Improperly Paid Providers for Some Psychotherapy Services, Including Those Provided via Telehealth, During the First Year of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency

Full Details: Oversight.gov Report Page

Audit | 5/02/2023

23-A-09-068.01 - Open

We recommend that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services work with the MACs to recover $35,560 in improper payments made to providers for the 128 sampled enrollee days that did not meet Medicare requirements.

23-A-09-068.02 - Closed

We recommend that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services work with the MACs to based upon the results of this audit, notify appropriate providers (i.e., those for whom CMS determines this audit constitutes credible information of potential overpayments) so that the providers can exercise reasonable diligence to identify, report, and return any overpayments in accordance with the 60-day rule and identify any of those returned overpayments as having been made in accordance with this recommendation.

23-A-09-068.03 - Open

Now that CMS has reinstituted most program integrity measures, we also recommend that CMS take the following steps, which if in effect during the audit period could have saved Medicare an estimated $579,667,510 during that period: Conduct medical reviews of psychotherapy services, including services provided via telehealth, to verify that the services are documented and billed in accordance with Medicare requirements.

23-A-09-068.04 - Open

Now that CMS has reinstituted most program integrity measures, we also recommend that CMS take the following steps, which if in effect during the audit period could have saved Medicare an estimated $579,667,510 during that period: Implement system edits for psychotherapy services, including services provided via telehealth, to prevent payments for services that were billed incorrectly.

23-A-09-068.05 - Open

Now that CMS has reinstituted most program integrity measures, we also recommend that CMS take the following steps, which if in effect during the audit period could have saved Medicare an estimated $579,667,510 during that period: Strengthen educational efforts to make providers aware of educational materials on how to meet Medicare requirements and guidance for psychotherapy services, including services provided via telehealth.

23-A-09-068.06 - Open

Now that CMS has reinstituted most program integrity measures, we also recommend that CMS work with the MACs to take the following steps, which if in effect during the audit period could have saved Medicare an estimated $579,667,510 during that period: Review MAC jurisdictions' LCD requirements for psychotherapy services to identify which provisions effectively promote program integrity, and consider additional steps that CMS could undertake to ensure appropriate coverage and payment for psychotherapy services across all jurisdictions.

Date Range

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Submitting Agency

State/Local Agency

State (State and Local Reports)

Fraud Type

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Related Organizations

Management Challenges

Any Recommendations

Any Open Recommendations

Reports

Alaska Experienced Challenges in Meeting Federal and State Foster Care Program Requirements During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Weaknesses in Treasury’s CARES Act Loan Monitoring

Recurring Identification Is Needed to Ensure That Employers Full Pay the Deferred Social Security Tax

Seventeen of Thirty Selected Health Centers Did Not Use or May Not Have Used Their HRSA COVID-19 Supplemental Grant Funding in Accordance With Federal Requirements

Montana Generally Complied With Requirements for Telehealth Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Interim Report: Audit of the Effects the Main Street Lending Program’s Loan Losses Have on Treasury’s Investment in the Program

Audit of the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Process for Its Direct Loan to YRC Worldwide, Inc. Under Section 4003 of the CARES Act

Additional Actions Are Needed to Reduce Accounts Management Function Inventories to Below Pre‑Pandemic Levels

VHA Can Improve Controls Over Its Use of Supplemental Funds

Medicare Improperly Paid Providers for Some Psychotherapy Services, Including Those Provided via Telehealth, During the First Year of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency

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