Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2010, the 55 highest-expenditure Part B drugs represented $16.9 billion in spending, or about 85 percent of all Medicare spending on Part B drugs, which totaled $19.5 billion. The number of Medicare beneficiaries who received each of these drugs varied from 15.2 million receiving the influenza vaccines to 660 hemophilia A patients receiving a group of biologicals known collectively as factor viii recombinant, which had the largest average annual cost per beneficiary--$217,000. Our analysis showed that most of the 55 drugs increased in expenditures, prices, and average annual cost per beneficiary from 2008 to 2010. The 5 drugs with the largest increase in Medicare expenditures over this time period also had the largest increase in the number of beneficiaries receiving each drug. Four of the 10 drugs which showed the greatest increase in expenditures were also among the 10 drugs showing the greatest price increases."

A statement of record issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "A breakdown in information sharing was a major factor contributing to the failure to prevent the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Since then, federal, state, and local governments have taken steps to improve sharing. This statement focuses on government efforts to (1) establish the Information Sharing Environment (ISE), a government-wide approach that facilitates the sharing of terrorism-related information; (2) support fusion centers, where states collaborate with federal agencies to improve sharing; (3) provide other support to state and local agencies to enhance sharing; and (4) strengthen use of the terrorist watchlist. GAO's comments are based on products issued from September 2010 through July 2011 and selected updates in September 2011. For the updates, GAO reviewed reports on the status of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) efforts to support fusion centers, and interviewed DHS officials regarding these efforts. This statement also includes preliminary observations based on GAO's ongoing watchlist work. For this work, GAO is analyzing the guidance used by agencies to nominate individuals to the watchlist and agency procedures for screening individuals against the list, and is interviewing relevant officials from law enforcement and intelligence …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Women represent an increasingly larger share of the total workforce in the United States--constituting nearly half of the total workforce. In addition, an increasing proportion of women in the workforce are more educated. However, research by GAO and others has shown that women's average pay has been and remains lower than that of men. Questions have been raised about the extent to which less-advantaged women--that is, those who are low wage or less educated--experience lower wages than less-advantaged men. GAO was asked to examine the differences in representation, key characteristics, and pay among women and men (1) with less education and (2) with low wages. GAO defined less-educated workers as those having a high school degree or less and low-wage workers as those earning an hourly wage rate in the bottom quintile--or 20 percent--of wages across the workforce. GAO analyzed data from the Department of Labor's Current Population Survey (CPS); reviewed other work on similar topics; and interviewed agency officials, representatives of women's groups, and other researchers."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "All seven of the agencies in GAO's review--U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Federal Bureau of Prisons, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and Transportation Security Administration--have written policies supporting an employee's ability to earn and use compensatory time off for religious observances. GAO identified several similarities in agency policies and supporting documents in the categories of: (1) employee eligibility, (2) applicability across geographic locations, (3) schedule planning, and (4) implementation. These similarities generally support greater flexibility for employees to seek compensatory time off for religious observances. For example, all agencies have policies that apply to all occupational groups of the agencies' geographical locations and facilities, regardless of a facility's size or the number of employees who work there. In most cases, officials said the agencies followed existing federal rules when developing policies and that they wanted to provide their employees with additional scheduling flexibility. However, IRS introduced additional controls to monitor excessive accumulation of unused compensatory time off for religious observances based on findings by IRS's Inspector General."

A publication issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) faces a number of management and budgetary challenges, which are particularly important as Congress seeks to decrease the cost of government while improving its performance. EPA operates in a highly complex and controversial regulatory arena, and its policies and programs affect virtually all segments of the economy, society, and government. From fiscal years 2000 through 2010, the agency's budget rose in nominal terms from $7.8 billion to $10.4 billion, but has remained relatively flat over this period in real terms. This testimony highlights some of the major management challenges and budgetary issues facing a range of EPA programs and activities today. This testimony focuses on (1) management of EPA's workload, workforce, and real property; (2) coordination with other agencies to more effectively leverage limited resources; and (3) observations on the agency's budget justifications. This testimony is based on prior GAO products and analysis.."

A publication issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In the wake of increased product recalls in 2007-2008, Congress passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA). Among other things, CPSIA requires the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to establish a database on the safety of consumer products that is publicly available, searchable, and accessible through the CPSC Web site. In response, CPSC launched SaferProducts.gov in March 2011. The Department of Defense and Full Year Continuing Appropriations Act of 2011 requires GAO to report on the data collected by CPSC in its safety information database. This report examines (1) the information required for submitting a report of harm to SaferProducts.gov, (2) the information used to identify the product and to allow CPSC to review manufacturer claims of material inaccuracy in a report of harm, and (3) the length of time CPSC takes to review a manufacturer's claim that a report contains materially inaccurate information. To do this work, GAO analyzed agency data, regulations, and CPSC program documentation and interviewed CPSC staff and various industry and consumer representatives."