The Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) mission is to provide objective oversight to promote the economy, efficiency, effectiveness, and integrity of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) programs, as well as the health and welfare of the people those programs serve.
The OIG is actively carrying out its mission based on its release of its Semiannual Report to Congress covering the period of April 1 to September 30, 2022. During this period, the OIG issued 68 audit reports and 29 evaluation reports, which identified $62.9 million in expected recoveries as well as $612 million in questioned costs. In addition, the OIG’s audit work identified $117 million in potential savings for HHS, which included 309 new audit and evaluation recommendations to encourage positive change to HHS programs.
Overall, for the fiscal year (FY) ended September 30, 2022, the OIG’s statistics are as follows:
| Audit Reports Issued | 114 |
| Evaluations Issued | 43 |
| Expected Audit Recoveries | $1,199,088,845 |
| Questioned Costs | $2,173,082,045 |
| Potential Savings | $279,087,234 |
| New Audit and Evaluation Recommendations | 445 |
| Recommendations Implemented by HHS OpDivs | 424 |
| Expected Investigative Recoveries | $2,730,000,000 |
| Criminal Actions | 710 |
| Civil Actions | 736 |
| Exclusions | 2,332 |
As noted above, the OIG is alive and well and continuing to monitor healthcare organization activities related to federal programs and compliance with rules and regulations. As healthcare organizations continue to face financial hardships with increased costs, workforce challenges, transparency, managed care contract pressures, and overall inflation, the OIG’s oversight will not waiver.
Healthcare organizations need to continue to monitor their compliance with HHS program requirements and maintain internal controls to adhere to rules and regulations to reduce their risk of going astray and becoming one of the statistics listed above.
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