Reports

Fort Myers, Florida – United States Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez announces the arrest and unsealing of a criminal complaint charging Casey David Crowther (35, Fort Myers) with making a false statement to a lending institution. If convicted, Crowther faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison.

The City has established and implemented several disaster management plans – including a Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Plan. Still, additional considerations in these plans would ensure the City is more prepared for potential future pandemics.

The objective of these assessments is to help the City prepare for State and Federal audits of the City’s use of emergency funding. This includes proactive and real-time assistance in complying with regulatory requirements, securing reimbursements, tracking disaster recovery costs, and evaluating whether funds are being used efficiently and effectively.

Since March 2020, the restaurant industry has been hit very hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Mandatory closures, stay-at-home and social distancing orders, the onset of a severe economic recession, and travel restrictions have resulted in unprecedented upheaval for the industry. As a result, many restaurants and bars have closed or significantly reduced their operations. Since these establishments often operate on tight margins in the best of times, there are growing fears that many will be forced to close permanently if financial support is not forthcoming.

In March and April 2020, Congress passed four stimulus bills to address the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the public health system and the economy. As Congress debates additional relief measures, it is worth reviewing the targeting of the initial funding in order to inform new policy to counter the virus and its economic effects. In the third stimulus bill, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, Congress appropriated $150 billion to the Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) to provide direct funding to state and local governments. The use of CRF funds is restricted to...

A Michigan man was arrested today in connection with a wire fraud scheme involving $3.1 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) took measures to protect patients and employees from COVID-19 by canceling face-to-face appointments that were not urgent and converting some of them to virtual appointments. The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) assessed VHA’s appointment management strategies and the status of canceled appointments. The review team found that about five million appointments (68 percent) canceled from March 15 through May 1, 2020, had evidence of follow up or other tracking. Patients completed appointments predominantly by telephone and some by video. Other...

The Protect.HHS.gov ecosystem and the U.S. Healthcare COVID-19 portal are both critically important systems contributing to the Federal pandemic response. The data collected by these systems are utilized in the response to COVID-19 by, for example, tracking the movement of the virus, identifying potential stresses in the health care delivery system, and provide information about the distribution of supplies. Without proper cybersecurity, the integrity and availability of the data are at risk and the impact to public health efforts could be significant if decisionmakers cannot rely on COVID-19 data from States, communities, and hospitals. We will determine whether HHS has implemented foundational cybersecurity controls to ensure the integrity and availability of Protect.HHS.gov and the U.S. Healthcare COVID-19 portal.

CDC has stated that beneficiaries with serious underlying medical conditions, such as end-stage renal disease (ESRD), are at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19. Regardless of the current pandemic, dialysis patients are at high risk of infection because of weakened immune systems, coexisting conditions such as diabetes, and treatments requiring frequent use of catheters or insertions of needles to access the bloodstream. ESRD facility conditions for coverage regarding infection control and emergency preparedness are defined in 42 CFR 494 Subpart B. On March 30, 2020, CMS issued a revised memorandum providing guidance for infection control and prevention of COVID-19 in dialysis facilities. We will interview corporate officers from the three ESRD service companies covering more than 75 percent of CY 2018 Medicare reimbursements and 71 percent of dialysis clinics. Our objective is to determine whether ESRD facilities implemented additional infection control and emergency preparedness procedures in accordance with CMS and CDC guidance to safeguard high risk ESRD beneficiaries during the COVID-19 pandemic.