Two bills aimed at reducing improper payments by federal agencies–an issue already targeted by a series of changes in law of recent years but that remains a concern of GAO, agency IGs and OMB–are up for voting this week in the Senate Homeland Security Committee.
One bill (S-2948) would require agencies to take new steps to prevent improper payments from happening, focus more attention on programs at the highest risk, and require the IG council to issue guidance to improve compliance with previously enacted laws. It also would require agencies to collaborate with each other and with non-federal entities to target the most common causes of improper payments, including eligibility determinations in federal benefits programs such as Medicaid that are managed by the states.
The other (S-2374) would expand the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act by widening access by agencies and IG offices to the SSA’s death records database. That is the most complete database of deaths the federal government maintains, but only a small number of agencies or IGs have access to the full list, causing agencies to make payments to dead people, sponsors say.
The legislation also would establish procedures to ensure more accurate death data, for example by requiring the SSA to screen for “extremely elderly” individuals. That follows recommendations of a 2015 IG report that found 6.5 million persons were listed as being older than 112 and still alive.
