Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund (Fund) is a $1 billion fund that has two major components: the Emergency Fund and the Principal Fund. The Emergency Fund is used for paying for federal removal actions and the initiation of natural resource damage assessments by designated federal, state, or Indian tribe officials, resulting from oil spills or the substantial threat of oil spills to the waters or shorelines of the United States. The Principal Fund is used for paying certain claims for uncompensated removal costs and damages resulting from oil spills or the substantial threat of oil spills to the waters or shorelines of the United States. The Fund is administered by the National Pollution Funds Center (NPFC) of the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG). In May 2002, we issued a legal opinion related to the uses and limitations of the Fund and concluded that the Fund is not available to pay employee salaries and other operating expenses. The USCG reported that from fiscal years 1998 through 2002, $32.8 million from the Fund was used to pay costs associated with processing claims, including salaries and other operating expenses. In April …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Medicare pays for assistant-atsurgery services under both the hospital inpatient prospective payment system and the physician fee schedule. Payments under the physician fee schedule are limited to a few health professions. In 2001, Congress directed GAO to report on the potential impact on the Medicare program of allowing physician fee schedule payments to Certified Registered Nurse First Assistants for assistant-at-surgery services. This report examines: (1) who serves as an assistant-atsurgery, (2) whether health professionals who perform the role must meet a uniform set of professional requirements, and (3) whether Medicare's payment policies for assistants-at-surgery are consistent with the goals of the program and, if not, whether there are alternatives that would help attain those goals. GAO analyzed information provided by physician and other health professional associations and Medicare payment data."