Reports

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Postal Service provided vital service, including the delivery of critical items such as medications, stimulus payments, and Social Security checks. Further, the Postal Service is the leading delivery service provider for online purchases. A May 2020 Harris Poll survey on America’s 100 essential companies’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, ranked the Postal Service as number one, based on its resolve, integrity, responsiveness, and permanence. Our objective was to evaluate mail service during the early stages of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) disease...

We did this review to determine the number and results of onsite State surveys of nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nursing home residents are particularly vulnerable to infectious diseases such as COVID-19, and infection control has been a persistent problem for most nursing homes. As of November 8, 2020, more than 67,000 nursing home residents had died of COVID-19-related illnesses, which represented almost 30 percent of all COVID 19 deaths in the United States at that time. Onsite State surveys assess the quality of services in nursing homes, a critical function for protecting...

Accurate, complete, and appropriately detailed race and ethnicity data for Medicare beneficiaries are critical to identifying and mitigating health disparities. As racial and ethnic disparities have emerged among those impacted by COVID-19, the availability and quality of data on race and ethnicity has garnered greater attention and scrutiny. This study will describe the extent to which Medicare's race and ethnicity data for beneficiaries are complete and accurate. We will compare these data to data from other sources. We will also determine the extent to which the Medicare beneficiary race and ethnicity data align with Federal data standards.

To lead its pandemic response, the Postal Service created the COVID-19 Command Response Team at headquarters to ensure the agency followed directives and guidance from the CDC. The Postal Service implemented changes to slow the spread of the virus, manage and support affected employees, and ensure that recovered employees returned to work safely. Our objective was to assess the Postal Service’s response to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak regarding the safety of its employees.

Economic and health impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have left States facing increases in new applications for health insurance through the Medicaid and ACA Marketplace programs. Responding to the pandemic, including meeting the new enrollment and oversight demands, has taxed State health care systems. This evaluation will assess efforts by the States and CMS to effectively enroll residents impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in Medicaid and ACA Marketplace plans. By identifying effective practices or any breakdowns in enrollment and oversight systems, this review would help improve the efficiency of State health insurance enrollment processes under both emergency and more typical conditions.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, CMS implemented a number of waivers and flexibilities that allowed Medicare beneficiaries to access a wider range of telehealth services without having to travel to a health care facility. This review will be based on Medicare Parts B and C data and will identify program integrity risks associated with Medicare telehealth services during the pandemic. We will analyze providers' billing patterns for telehealth services. We will also describe key characteristics of providers that may pose a program integrity risk to the Medicare program.