GAO issues recommendations to improve COVID-19 efforts among federal agencies

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) made several recommendations related to the COVID-19 pandemic to increase transparency and accountability among federal agencies.

The GAO report outlined that the United States has had more than 10 million cumulative cases of COVID-19 and approximately 225,000 death at the time of the report. The country is also dealing with economic repercussions from the virus. In its investigation of the response, the GAO found states and territories were concerned about ongoing shortages of some testing-related and other medical supplies. The office also found that, as vaccines and therapeutics are approved for use, more transparency around the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) scientific reviews of safety and effectiveness is needed to strengthen public confidence in them.

As a result of these general findings, the GAO made 11 specific recommendations. Among them, the GAO said the Secretary of Health and Human Services should ensure that the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention clearly discloses the scientific rationale for any change to testing guidelines at the time the change is made.

Also, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services should quickly develop a plan that further details how the agency intends to respond to and implement, as appropriate, the 27 recommendations in the final report of the Coronavirus Commission on Safety and Quality in Nursing Homes, which the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released on Sept. 16, 2020.

The plan should include milestones that allow the agency to track and report on the status of each recommendation; identify actions taken and planned, including areas where the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services determined not to take action; and identify areas where the agency could coordinate with other federal and nonfederal entities.

Third, the GAO said the Department of Veterans Affairs Under Secretary for Health should develop a plan to ensure inspections of state veterans’ homes occur during the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, the Department of Veterans Affairs Under Secretary for Health should collect timely data on COVID-19 cases and deaths in each state veterans’ home.

The GAO also determined that the Secretary of the Treasury, in coordination with the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, should begin tracking and publicly reporting the number of individuals who were mailed an economic impact payment notification letter and subsequently filed for and received an economic impact payment. That information should be used to inform ongoing outreach and communications efforts.

Further, the Secretary of Labor should ensure the Office of Unemployment Insurance revises its weekly news releases to clarify that in the current unemployment environment, the numbers it reports for weeks of unemployment claimed do not accurately estimate the number of unique individuals claiming benefits. It should also report the actual number of distinct individuals claiming benefits.

Also, GAO said the Director of the Office of Management and Budget should develop and issue guidance directing agencies to include COVID-19 relief funding with associated key risks, such as provisions contained in the CARES Act and other relief legislation that potentially increase the risk of improper payments or changes to existing program eligibility rules.