Reports

The Office of Inspector General Audits Division will perform a review of emergency economic injury disaster loan grants made to sole proprietorships. The objective is to determine whether the Small Business Administration approved and disbursed emergency economic injury disaster loan grants in accordance with the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act and Paycheck Protection Program and Healthcare Act.

Determine whether FEMA is administering CARES Act funding for the EFSP in accordance with CARES Act and Federal requirements to meet program goals.

The Office of Inspector General will be conducting an evaluation of SBA's Coronavirus (COVID-19) reconstitution plan. Our objectives are to determine (1) whether the agency established a COVID-19 reconstitution plan in accordance with applicable federal guidance and (2) if the agency is adhering to that plan.

This project seeks to provide transparency of states and localities spending rates of pandemic response funds. The project will also look at the state spend rate data in connection with public health and economic data to provide a more complete picture of the government’s COVID-19 relief efforts. The resulting information brief will inform Congress, policymakers, and the public about how swiftly states and localities have been able to spend Federal funds and may highlight any challenges faced by these recipients expending funds.

The project will update the four Management Challenges identified by the Pandemic OIGs at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic by building upon existing challenges and identifying any new challenges that the federal government will face when implementing their pandemic response programs. This update will inform policymakers in the new Congress and new Administration about key challenges that impact all federal agencies and that could impact the overall success and effectiveness of pandemic response programs.

Evaluate controls implemented by the IRS to ensure the $765.7 million in appropriated funds received for its Coronavirus response is adequately tracked and used for its intended purpose. 

The Office of Inspector General will be conducting an evaluation of SBA's contract for data analysis and loan recommendation services to support the Office of Disaster Assistance. Our objectives are to determine whether SBA: (1) procured services for data analysis and loan recommendation services in accordance with 8(a) Program requirements and Federal Acquisition Regulations; and (2) effectively monitored the contractor's compliance with 8(a) Program requirements and subcontracting limitations.

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.

The Indian Health Service (IHS) is charged with providing comprehensive health care for approximately 2.6 million American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs). It is critical to ensure safe and accessible health care for AI/ANs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior OIG work found that IHS facilities often lack sufficient clinical and other staff, and identified numerous problems caused by staffing shortages, including limited patient access to specialists and problems with the use of contracted staff. The COVID-19 pandemic may exacerbate staffing shortages as IHS and Tribal hospitals continue to see more COVID-19 patients. As a response, IHS contracted additional staff by forming a Critical Care Response Team pilot program, which is designed to provide urgent medical care for COVID-19 patients in facilities with insufficient staffing. The teams are also charged with preparing and training frontline health care staff on evidence-based and best practices, supporting clinical decision making, and providing consultations and advice on hospital operations and how to manage critically ill patients. As of September 29, 2020, IHS had deployed five teams to provide services at six IHS-operated facilities and three tribally operated facilities and planned to make the program a longer-term part of IHS operations. Doing so could help remedy longstanding staffing shortages at IHS facilities. However, problems identified in prior OIG work indicate that IHS may have difficulty managing this contracted resource and integrating the teams into facility practices. OIG's review will use interviews with IHS and contracted staff, as well as document reviews, to assess IHS use of the Critical Care Response Teams, including development, management, and oversight of the teams, and IHS selection criteria for determining which facilities would receive deployments.

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.