The SSA continues to use a method previously found inadequate to detect substantial overpayments as required by an executive order, the agency’s IG has said.
Under EO, 13520, each agency must submit a quarterly report on high-dollar overpayments identified by the agency, as well as describe any actions the agency has taken, or plans to take, to recover them as well as any actions it intends to take to prevent them in the future. Such payments are defined as those above certain percentage and dollar thresholds more than is proper; in fiscal 2015 SSA did not identify any, the report said.
It said the SSA uses a process known as stewardship reviews, which it said produces adequate results for payment accuracy, but not for the reporting of high-dollar overpayments. Limitations include, for example, that the reviews cover only one month of data at a time and that they can take months.
It said that management itself has found it highly unlikely that the agency would identify improper overpayments to individuals, including via its stewardship reviews in Supplemental Security Income that would meet the order’s implementing guidance.
“Although we presented these limitations to SSA in previous reviews, and it has acknowledged it is unlikely to identify high-dollar overpayments using the current methodology, SSA continues using the stewardship reviews to identify high-dollar overpayments,” said the report. It said that management reviewed the findings and provided technical comments.
