Reports

Department of Homeland Security OIG

Continued Reliance on Manual Processing Slowed USCIS’ Benefits Delivery During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The objective was to determine the effectiveness of USCIS’ technology systems to provide timely and accurate electronic processing of immigration and naturalization benefit requests while field offices, asylum offices, and application support centers were closed or operating on a reduced workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Full Details: Oversight.gov Report Page

Audit | 11/03/2021

Department of Health & Human Services OIG

Changes Made to States' Medicaid Programs To Ensure Beneficiary Access to Prescriptions During the COVID-19 Pandemic

On March 13, 2020, the President of the United States declared that the COVID-19 pandemic was a national emergency. That same day, in accordance with section 1135(b) of the Social Security Act (the Act), the Secretary of HHS invoked his authority to waive or modify certain requirements of Titles XVIII, XIX, and XXI of the Act. To limit the spread of the virus, Federal, State and local governments urged individuals to stay at home and for individuals who test positive to quarantine, among other preventive measures. As a result, the usual and customary ways that many individuals obtained...

Full Details: Oversight.gov Report Page

Department of Education OIG

Remington College’s Use of Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Student Aid and Institutional Grants

The objective of our audit was to determine if Remington College used the Student Aid (Assistance Listing Number (ALN) 84.425E) and Institutional (ALN 84.425F) portions of its Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) grant funds for allowable and intended purposes. Remington College generally used the Student Aid portion of its HEERF grant funds for allowable and intended purposes but did not always use the Institutional portion of its funds in accordance with Federal requirements. We found that Remington College spent Institutional funds for several unallowable purposes and did not...

Full Details: Oversight.gov Report Page

Audit | 9/28/2021

2.1 - Open

Require Remington College to return to the Department the $80,121 in Institutional grant funds spent beyond the supplemental Institutional grant period or reallocate the funds to other allowable costs.

2.2 - Open

Clarify whether the costs that Remington College initially charged to its Institutional grant for student computers were allowable under the law and existing guidance, and determine whether Remington College’s subsequent reallocation of costs for other expenses in the amount of $64,985 (corrective actions) was appropriate.

2.3 - Open

Determine whether the $639,400 that Remington College charged to its Institutional grant for contracts awarded without a competitive procurement process was reasonable when compared to the quality and costs of suitable alternatives, and if not, require appropriate corrective actions.

2.4 - Open

Require Remington College to incorporate in its policies and procedures for managing HEERF grant funds the Federal requirements related to charging only allowable costs during the grant performance period, using competitive processes for selecting vendors when purchases are over $10,000, obtaining price or rate quotations from an adequate number of qualified vendors for purchases between $10,000 and $250,000, and using formal procurement methods for purchases over $250,000.

2.5 - Open

Require Remington College to ensure that school officials responsible for making purchasing decisions receive sufficient training on Federal rules and regulations related to grant administration and management.

3.1 - Open

Require Remington College to incorporate in its policies and procedures for managing Institutional grant funds the Federal cash management requirements related to minimizing the time between drawing down and spending Federal grant funds, including HEERF funds; maintaining the funds in an interest-bearing account; and remitting interest earned in excess of $500 in accordance with 2 C.F.R. § 200.305(b).

3.2 - Open

Require Remington College to incorporate in its policies and procedures for managing Student Aid grant funds the Federal cash management requirements related to maintaining the funds in an interest-bearing account and remitting interest earned in excess of $500 in accordance with 2 C.F.R. § 200.305(b).

3.3 - Open

Determine whether Remington College accurately calculated interest and ensure that the correct amount of interest is returned to the Federal government in accordance with 2 C.F.R. § 200.305(b)(9).

Department of Education OIG

Lincoln College of Technology’s Use of Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Student Aid and Institutional Grants

The objective of our audit was to determine whether Lincoln College of Technology (Lincoln) used the Student Aid (Assistance Listing Number (ALN) 84.425E) and Institutional (ALN 84.425F) portions of its Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) funds for allowable and intended purposes. We also reviewed Lincoln’s cash management practices and the timeliness and quality of the data Lincoln reported on its use of HEERF funds. LESC generally used the Student Aid portion of Lincoln’s HEERF funds for allowable and intended purposes but did not always use the Institutional portion of its funds...

Full Details: Oversight.gov Report Page

Audit | 9/24/2021

1.1 - Closed

We recommend that the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Postsecondary Education require LESC to update its written policies and procedures to contain sufficient detail to ensure that (1) all the steps necessary to verify student eligibility and distribute funds to students under the CARES Act and subsequent coronavirus legislations are addressed and completed, (2) funding determinations are adequately documented and supported in accordance with 2 C.F.R. § 200.302, and (3) students with exceptional need are prioritized in accordance with CRRSAA and ARP.

2.1 - Closed

Regarding LESC’s decision to reallocate the amounts we questioned in this finding, we recommend that the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Postsecondary Education review the reallocated funds and determine whether LESC’s use of $710,274 of Lincoln’s Institutional grant funds to write off unpaid accounts receivable for students, who withdrew from the school due to coronavirus, was allowable and for the intended purposes of applicable coronavirus relief legislation.

2.2 - Closed

If LESC’s reallocation of Lincoln’s Institutional grant funds is deemed unallowable, we recommend that the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Postsecondary require LESC to return to the Department the $700,155 of Lincoln’s Institutional grant funds that LESC improperly applied to credit student accounts for rent students paid to third-party landlords and the $9,838 that LESC improperly spent for subscriptions extending beyond the grant performance period and determine if these issues occurred at LESC’s other schools and take corrective action as appropriate.

3.1 - Closed

We recommend that the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Postsecondary Education require LESC to incorporate in its policies and procedures the cash management requirements for minimizing the time between drawing down and disbursing Federal grant funds, including HEERF funds, maintaining the funds in an interest-bearing account, and remitting interest earned more than $500 in accordance with 2 C.F.R. § 200.305(b).

3.2 - Closed

We recommend that the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Postsecondary Education determine whether LESC accurately calculated interest and properly remitted the interest returned in January 2021, in accordance with 2 C.F.R. § 200.305(b)(9).

Department of Health & Human Services OIG

Six of Eight Home Health Agency Providers Had Infection Control Policies and Procedures That Complied With CMS Requirements and Followed CMS COVID-19 Guidance To Safeguard Medicare Beneficiaries, Caregivers, and Staff During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Full Details: Oversight.gov Report Page

Department of Homeland Security OIG

Lessons Learned from FEMA’s Initial Response to COVID-19

The objective was to determine how effectively FEMA supported and coordinated Federal efforts to distribute personal protective equipment (PPE) and ventilators in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. We determined that FEMA did not have reliable data to inform allocation decisions and ensure accurate adjudication of resource requests, it did not have a process to allocate the limited supply of PPE, and FEMA’s strategic documents did not clearly outline roles and responsibilities to lead the Federal response. We made three recommendations that FEMA improve the reliability of WebEOC, formally...

Full Details: Oversight.gov Report Page

Audit | 9/23/2021

Department of Homeland Security OIG

DHS Needs to Enhance Its COVID-19 Response at the Southwest Border

The objective of this review was to determine to what extent the Department of Homeland Security has implemented COVID-19 measures for migrants at the southwest border. We reported that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) does not conduct COVID-19 testing for migrants who enter CBP custody and is not required to do so. Instead, CBP relies on local public health systems to test symptomatic individuals. According to CBP officials, as a frontline law enforcement agency, it does not have the necessary resources to conduct such testing. For migrants that are transferred or released from CBP...

Full Details: Oversight.gov Report Page

Audit | 9/21/2021

Department of Health & Human Services OIG

CMS's COVID-19 Data Included Required Information From the Vast Majority of Nursing Homes, but CMS Could Take Actions To Improve Completeness and Accuracy of the Data

The United States currently faces a nationwide public health emergency because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Federal regulations, effective May 8, 2020, required nursing homes to report COVID-19 information, such as the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases among residents, at least weekly to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) National Healthcare Safety Network. Each week, CDC aggregates the reported information and sends the data to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for posting to the CMS website. These data are used to assist with national surveillance of...

Full Details: Oversight.gov Report Page

Audit | 9/01/2021

271069 - Closed

We recommend that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services assess the costs and benefits of implementing the following recommendations and if CMS determines that the benefits outweigh the costs, take action to develop a process to identify nursing homes that do not report required data for all of the data elements related to COVID-19 cases and deaths among residents and staff and PPE and supplies and request that they submit the required data.

271070 - Closed

We recommend that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services assess the costs and benefits of implementing the following recommendations and if CMS determines that the benefits outweigh the costs, take action to revise its quality assurance checks for ratios 1, 3, 5, and 6, which use the number of all beds in the denominator, to ensure that it does not exclude from its COVID-19 data nursing homes' data that should be included.

271071 - Closed

We recommend that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services assess the costs and benefits of implementing the following recommendations and if CMS determines that the benefits outweigh the costs, take action to revise its quality assurance checks for ratios 2 and 4, which use the numbers of confirmed cases and admissions among residents and confirmed cases among staff in the denominator, by adding the number of suspected COVID-19 cases to the denominator in both ratios and adjust the ratios' thresholds to reflect the change.

271072 - Closed

We recommend that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services assess the costs and benefits of implementing the following recommendations and if CMS determines that the benefits outweigh the costs, take action to identify the nursing homes that reported more total COVID-19 deaths than total deaths from any cause and request that they verify or correct the reported data.

271073 - Closed

We recommend that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services assess the costs and benefits of implementing the following recommendations and if CMS determines that the benefits outweigh the costs, take action to contact nursing homes that failed quality assurance checks to verify the accuracy of reported data or to correct inaccurate data.

271074 - Closed

We recommend that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services assess the costs and benefits of implementing the following recommendations and if CMS determines that the benefits outweigh the costs, take action to work with CDC and with State health departments to determine the feasibility of using comparable data elements to collect COVID-19 data and the feasibility of monitoring substantial differences in the data and, if determined feasible, take actions to provide the public with more complete and accurate COVID-19 data for nursing homes.

Department of Homeland Security OIG

CBP Needs to Strengthen Its Oversight and Policy to Better Care for Migrants Needing Medical Attention

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) needs better oversight and policy to adequately safeguard migrants experiencing medical emergencies or illnesses along the southwest border. CBP concurred with all three of our recommendations, which when implemented, should improve medical attention and procedures for migrants at the southwest border

Full Details: Oversight.gov Report Page

Audit | 7/22/2021

Department of Health & Human Services OIG

CMS's Controls Related to Hospital Preparedness for an Emerging Infectious Disease Were Well-Designed and Implemented but Its Authority Is Not Sufficient for It To Ensure Preparedness at Accredited Hospitals

Assess whether the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) designed and implemented effective internal controls related to hospital preparedness for emerging infectious diseases such as COVID-19.

Full Details: Oversight.gov Report Page

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Reports

Continued Reliance on Manual Processing Slowed USCIS’ Benefits Delivery During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Changes Made to States' Medicaid Programs To Ensure Beneficiary Access to Prescriptions During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Remington College’s Use of Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Student Aid and Institutional Grants

Lincoln College of Technology’s Use of Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Student Aid and Institutional Grants

Six of Eight Home Health Agency Providers Had Infection Control Policies and Procedures That Complied With CMS Requirements and Followed CMS COVID-19 Guidance To Safeguard Medicare Beneficiaries, Caregivers, and Staff During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Lessons Learned from FEMA’s Initial Response to COVID-19

DHS Needs to Enhance Its COVID-19 Response at the Southwest Border

CMS's COVID-19 Data Included Required Information From the Vast Majority of Nursing Homes, but CMS Could Take Actions To Improve Completeness and Accuracy of the Data

CBP Needs to Strengthen Its Oversight and Policy to Better Care for Migrants Needing Medical Attention

CMS's Controls Related to Hospital Preparedness for an Emerging Infectious Disease Were Well-Designed and Implemented but Its Authority Is Not Sufficient for It To Ensure Preparedness at Accredited Hospitals

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