Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "With the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 (OBRA '87), Congress responded to growing concerns about the quality of care that nursing home residents received by requiring reforms in the federal certification and oversight of nursing homes. These reforms included revising care requirements that homes must meet to participate in the Medicare or Medicaid programs, modifying the survey process for certifying a home's compliance with federal standards, and introducing additional sanctions and decertification procedures for noncompliant homes. GAO's testimony addresses its work in evaluating the quality of nursing home care and the enforcement and oversight functions intended to ensure high-quality care, the progress made in each of these areas since the passage of OBRA '87, and the challenges that remain. GAO's testimony is based on its prior work; analysis of data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) On-Line Survey, Certification, and Reporting system (OSCAR), which compiles the results of state nursing home surveys; and evaluation of federal comparative surveys for selected states (2005-2007). Federal comparative surveys are conducted at nursing homes recently surveyed by each state to assess the adequacy of the state's surveys."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The 31 million children enrolled in Medicaid are particularly vulnerable to tooth decay, which, if untreated, may lead to more serious health conditions and, on rare occasion, result in death. Congress established a comprehensive health benefit for children enrolled in Medicaid to cover Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment (EPSDT) services, which include dental services. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is responsible for oversight of these services. States are responsible for administering their state Medicaid programs in accordance with federal requirements, including requirements to report certain data on the provision of EPSDT services. GAO was asked to address the data that CMS requires states to submit on the provision of EPSDT dental services and the extent to which these data are sufficient for CMS oversight of the provision of these services. This testimony is based on reports GAO issued from 2000 through 2003. GAO updated relevant portions of its earlier work through interviews conducted in April 2007 with officials from CMS; state Medicaid programs in California, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, and Washington (states contacted for GAO's 2001 study or referred to GAO by another …