A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO evaluated the Department of the Interior's High-Level Implementation Plan for improving its management of the Indian trust funds and resources under its control, focusing on whether the Interior has reasonable assurance that: (1) the High-Level Plan provides an effective solution for addressing its long-standing problems; and (2) its acquisition of a new asset and land records management service will cost effectively satisfy trust management needs."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the steps needed to improve financial management at the Department of Defense (DOD), focusing on: (1) the impact of financial management weaknesses on DOD's ability to efficiently and economically carry out its operations; (2) efforts DOD has initiated, and additional actions that are necessary, to improve financial management systems and controls in the short term; and (3) enhancements needed in updating DOD's Biennial Financial Management Improvement Plan--its long-term blueprint for financial management reform."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the: (1) impact of the year 2000 challenge on the nation's emergency and state and local law enforcement systems; and (2) Department of Justice (DOJ) and the President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion efforts to facilitate remediation and contingency planning and to gauge the year 2000 readiness of these two important sectors."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed quality-of-care and consumer protection issues in assisted living facilities in California, Florida, Ohio, and Oregon, focusing on: (1) residents' needs and the services provided in assisted living facilities; (2) the extent to which facilities provide consumers with sufficient information for them to choose a facility that is appropriate for their needs; (3) the four states' approaches to oversight of assisted living; and (4) the types of quality-of-care and consumer protection problems they identify."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the: (1) accuracy, completeness, and usefulness of the information Medicare managed care organizations (MCO) distribute about their plans' benefit packages; (2) extent to which MCOs inform beneficiaries of their plan appeal rights and the appeals process; and (3) Health Care Financing Administration's (HCFA) review, approval, and oversight of the plan information that MCOs distribute."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the readiness of automated systems that support the nation's delivery of health benefits and services to function reliably without interruption through the turn of the century."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed small business tax issues, focusing on the: (1) federal filing, reporting, and deposit requirements that apply to small businesses; (2) actual experience of small businesses in meeting these requirements, including their involvement in the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) enforcement processes; (3) burden small businesses can face in complying; and (4) IRS' efforts to reduce small businesses' compliance burden and improve customer service, especially IRS' planned reorganization."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the reporting of lobbying activities by organizations that have employees who lobby on the organizations' behalf and have the option to report their lobbying expenses under the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) of 1995 or applicable Internal Revenue Code (IRC) provisions that they use for tax purposes, focusing on: (1) the differences between the LDA and IRC section 4911 and 162(e) definitions of lobbying; (2) the impact that differences in the definitions may have on registration and reporting under LDA, including information on the number of organizations using each definition and the expenses they have reported; and (3) identifying and analyzing options, including harmonizing the three definitions, that may better ensure that the public disclosure purposes of LDA are realized."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on antibiotic resistance issues that may stem from the use of antibiotics in agriculture, focusing on the: (1) use of antibiotics in agriculture and the implications of that use for human health; (2) federal roles and responsibilities for overseeing the use of antibiotics in agriculture; and (3) issues surrounding the debate over whether to further regulate or restrict the use of antibiotics in agriculture."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on managed care plans' decisions to leave the Medicare program or to reduce the geographic areas that they serve, focusing on: (1) plans that receive capitated payments; (2) the patterns of plan and beneficiary participation in managed care; (3) factors associated with plans' decisions to enter or leave the Medicare Choice program; and (4) changes in plans' benefit packages and premiums."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed Medicare's managed care beneficiary appeals process, focusing on: (1) the appeals process available to beneficiaries when managed care plans deny care or payment for services; (2) beneficiaries' use of the appeals process and the extent to which they are informed of their appeal rights; and (3) the Health Care Financing Administration's (HCFA) oversight of this process."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) efforts to develop and implement evaluation and rating processes and procedures for evaluating new start transit projects for federal funding, focusing on: (1) the status of FTA's efforts; (2) how FTA implemented the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) requirements for evaluating, rating, and recommending projects; and (3) open issues that FTA needs to resolve to fully satisfy TEA-21 requirements."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) efforts to educate farmers about risk management, focusing on: (1) the extent of farmers' use of risk management tools; and (2) educational programs and projects USDA has directed or initiated to prepare farmers for managing risks and determining the groups or individuals who have participated in or been served by these programs."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Federal Housing Administration's (FHA) appraisal process, focusing on: (1) how well the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is monitoring the performance of the appraisers on its roster and implementing procedures for addressing consumers' complaints about FHA appraisals; (2) the extent to which HUD is holding appraisers accountable for poor-quality FHA appraisals; (3) the extent to which HUD is holding lenders responsible for the quality of the FHA appraisals they use; and (4) how HUD ensures that appraisers on its roster are qualified to perform FHA appraisals."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed whether the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. have implemented the recommendations from a previous GAO report, focusing on the status of Nasdaq's: (1) response to recommendations SEC made as part of its oversight of Nasdaq's Listing Qualifications Department (NLQ); and (2) new automated Risk Scoring Compliance System (RSCS)."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Agriculture's implementation of legislative reforms to the Market Access Program (MAP) and their impact on program participation."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reported on the results of the financial-related audit, conducted by KPMG Peat Marwick LLP, of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission's (MedPAC) Schedules of Expenditures and Budgetary Resources for the year ended September 30, 1998."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on the: (1) potential costs associated with the compliance and enforcement of a mandatory country-of-origin labeling requirement at the retail level for fresh produce; (2) potential trade issues associated with such a requirement; (3) potential impact of such a requirement on the ability of the federal government and the public to respond to outbreaks of illness caused by contaminated fresh produce; and (4) consumers' views of country-of-origin labeling."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on Medicare beneficiaries' access to home oxygen equipment, focusing on: (1) changes in access to home oxygen for Medicare patients since the payment reduction mandated by the Balanced Budget Act (BBA) of 1997 took effect; and (2) actions taken by the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) to fulfill the BBA requirements and respond to GAO's November 1997 recommendations."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the cost and realization of national security objectives at Russia's Mayak nuclear complex and Shchuch'ye chemical weapons storage depot, focusing on whether the: (1) Mayak project will be completed on schedule and within past Department of Defense (DOD) estimates of its total cost to the United States; (2) United States has made progress in ensuring that the completed Mayak facility would achieve U.S. national security objectives by safely and securely storing retired materials taken only from dismantled nuclear weapons; (3) Shchuch'ye project will be completed on schedule and the status of DOD efforts to estimate its total cost to the United States; and (4) completed Shchuch'ye facility will achieve U.S. national security objectives by helping Russia destroy the Shchuch'ye depot's stocks and accelerate elimination of all Russian chemical weapons under the Chemical Weapons Convention."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the compliance programs established by health care providers to reduce improper payments by Medicare, focusing on the: (1) prevalence of compliance programs among hospitals and other Medicare providers; (2) costs involved with compliance programs; and (3) effectiveness of the programs, to the extent that could be measured."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This German-language edition of the journal of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) includes articles regarding: (1) changes in international auditing personnel; (2) audit planning; (3) implementing guidelines for INTOSAI auditing standards; (4) recognizing fraud indicators; (5) the Royal Authority of Bhutan; (6) reports in print on auditing; and (7) activities inside INTOSAI."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the District of Columbia's compliance with Public Law 105-100, focusing on whether: (1) any District employees were authorized, as of September 1998, to take home official vehicles; and (2) these employees were aware of the statutory restriction on using District government vehicles for other than official business, including home-to-work transportation."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Commodity Credit Corporation's (CCC) Livestock Assistance Program (LAP). GAO noted that: (1) the rule would provide new terms and conditions for LAP authorized in the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 1999; (2) in counties that have suffered a 40 percent or greater loss of normal grazing as a result of a natural disaster, LAP will provide emergency feed assistance for losses suffered by livestock producers in calendar year 1998; and (3) CCC complied with applicable requirements in promulgating the rule."