Watchdog pressures HHS to give timeline on remaining relief funding
By
Kimberly Marselas
Jul 20, 2021
The federal government’s top watchdog is calling for better communication about the distribution of coronavirus relief funds, criticizing the Department of Health and Human Services for not having a...
Only 64 U.S. nursing homes — 0.5 percent — had no COVID-19 outbreak the last half of 2020: GAO
By
Danielle Brown
May 20, 2021
U.S. nursing homes on average have each experienced about three COVID-19 outbreaks during the ongoing public health crisis, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.
Federal watchdog stresses need for retroactive COVID-19 death and case data from nursing homes
By
Danielle Brown
Jan 29, 2021
Federal health agencies are being pressured again to retroactively collect data on COVID-19 deaths and cases from nursing homes to improve the government’s response to the pandemic.
CMS now using 14 days of data to calculate COVID-19 county positivity rate; HHS could improve nursing...
By
Danielle Brown
Sep 23, 2020
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid has modified its methodology used for classifying county-level COVID-19 data that determines how often nursing homes will have to test staff members for the disease.
Medicare underpaying for those with functional limitations: GAO
By
Marty Stempniak
Sep 12, 2018
The federal government may be underpaying for Medicare Advantage beneficiaries with functional limitations, a new analysis finds.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services pays a fixed amount for...
GAO: Feds not doing enough to protect Medicare beneficiaries’ data
By
Kimberly Marselas
Apr 09, 2018
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services needs to improve how it handles beneficiary data being shared with others, especially research organizations, according to a new report from the Government...
GAO gets it right with need for more IT
By
Cynthia Morton
May 10, 2017
It’s good to have a “big dog” recognize that the long-term and post-acute care sectors should be given more help with information technology and exchange.
GAO: Small percentage of Medicaid beneficiaries costing much more
May 11, 2015
The Government Accountability Office last week released findings showing 5% of Medicaid-only eligible enrollees accounted for nearly 50% of the billions of government dollars paid in Medicaid-only eligible...
Smart cards would do little to curtail Medicare fraud: GAO
By
John Hall
Apr 28, 2015
Medicare beneficiary smart cards would have a limited impact on reducing fraud and could even introduce “new, more sophisticated fraud schemes,” a new report by the Government Accountability...
Watchdog: CMS should monitor Recovery Audit Data warehouse
By
John Hall
Apr 17, 2015
A new Government Accountability Office report recommends sweeping government reforms that would mitigate fragmentation and duplication of a number of Medicare and Medicaid programs.