Reports

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted a national review of stat community care consults generated during the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic to evaluate consult processes. Patient involvement in care urgency disagreements and reporting of adverse events in community care were also reviewed. When the OIG identified deficiencies in processes, electronic health records (EHRs) of the patients at issue were further examined for potential negative outcomes. The OIG did not identify any negative care outcomes. For the 2,236 stat community care consults generated from March 20, 2020...

The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) works to prevent death, illness, and injury from mining and promote safe and healthful workplaces for US miners. The Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 requires MSHA to  inspect each underground mine in its entirety four times a year and each surface mine in its entirety two times a year. These are called regular mandatory health and safety inspections. In 2021, MSHA’s data showed approximately 12,500 mines requiring an inspection while MSHA's inspection data showed it conducted around 18,500 inspections per year. This project will audit how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted MSHA's ability to complete mandatory safety and health inspections.
 

This report represents our current assessment of the U.S. Small Business Administration's programs and activities that pose significant risks, including those that are particularly vulnerable to fraud, waste, error, mismanagement, or inefficiencies. The Challenges are not presented in order of priority, except for the COVID 19 challenge, which we address first in this report. We also view the other challenges as critically important to SBA operations.

DOL and states found themselves unprepared for the overwhelming circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and struggled to implement CARES Act UI Programs and Continue Assistance Act which added the Mixed Earners Unemployment Compensation (MEUC) program. MEUC is a new temporary, federal program that provides an extra unemployment income to self-employed individuals. As unprecedented levels of unemployment resulted in millions of jobless Americans applying for unemployment benefits during the pandemic this also led to states reporting an inability to process claims, complete required reporting, or perform required overpayment detection procedures due to an inability to hire sufficient levels of staffing. The objective of this audit is to determine how states implemented the MEUC program.

The Office of Inspector General examined Emergency EIDL grants to sole proprietors and independent contractors from March 29, 2020, until the funds were exhausted just 14 weeks later on July 10. We set out to determine whether the agency complied with its internal policy that set Emergency EIDL grants at $1,000 per employee up to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act mandated maximum amount of $10,000. Using SBA’s data, we found SBA provided $4.5 billion more in Emergency EIDL grants to sole proprietors and independent contractors than they were entitled to receive...

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted an inspection at the VA Illiana Health Care System in Danville, Illinois, to determine the validity of allegations, specific to COVID-19 and the Community Living Center (CLC), of failure to observe infection control practices, failure to minimize risk of exposure to COVID-19, inconsistent ongoing testing, and failure to notify residents, families, and staff of positive test results. During the inspection, the OIG identified concerns related to leaders’ post-outbreak actions. The OIG substantiated a failure to observe general infection control...

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted a healthcare inspection at the Fayetteville VA Coastal Health Care System in North Carolina to assess concerns related to the quality, coordination, and timeliness of care, and the impact of COVID-19 on a patient with unintentional weight loss who was later diagnosed with oral cancer and died at another VA medical center. The OIG substantiated that the primary care provider and dietitians did not provide quality care to the patient. The primary care provider’s failure to follow-up on an earlier finding and not place an order for a medical test...