A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA) requires that employers who offer health insurance coverage for mental health conditions and substance use disorders (MH/SU) provide coverage that is no more restrictive than that offered for medical and surgical conditions. Employers were required to comply with the law for coverage that began on or after October 3, 2009. The Department of Labor (DOL), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Department of the Treasury share oversight for MHPAEA. MHPAEA also requires GAO to examine trends in health insurance coverage of MH/SU. This report describes (1) the extent to which employers cover MH/SU through private health insurance plans, and how this coverage has changed since 2008; and (2) what is known about the effect of health insurance coverage for MH/SU on enrollees' health care expenditures; access to, or use of, MH/SU services; and health status. GAO surveyed a random sample of employers about their MH/SU coverage for the most current plan year and for 2008. GAO received usable responses from 168 employers--a 24 percent response rate. …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Growing congestion on our nation's roads results in wasted time and fuel, which adversely affects the economy and the environment. State and local government agencies and private companies disseminate real-time traffic information to help travelers decide whether to use alternative, less congested routes. Legislation enacted in 2005 required the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to establish the Real-Time System Management Information Program, in order to provide states the capability to monitor traffic and travel conditions on major highways and share that information. As requested, this GAO report addresses, among other things, (1) how the public and private sectors disseminate real-time traffic information to the public, (2) actions DOT has taken to establish the Real-Time System Management Information Program, and (3) experts' views on the need for a nationwide real-time traffic information system and its potential characteristics. To conduct this study, GAO visited sites in California and Florida, which have well-developed traffic information systems; reviewed and analyzed DOT reports and data; and interviewed transportation officials, experts, and other stakeholders. GAO is not making any recommendations at this time because DOT has not finalized the proposed rule it issued in …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since the mid-1990s, the Navy and Marine Corps have studied ways to better protect landing forces. As new operational concepts evolved, the Marine Corps identified requirements for naval surface fire support and the Navy began developing two systems to meet these needs--the Extended Range Munition for existing classes of ships and the future Zumwalt class destroyer. GAO was asked to address (1) whether requirements for fire support have been established and (2) the Navy's progress on the Extended Range Munition, Zumwalt class destroyer, and follow-on systems. GAO also analyzed whether these Navy systems fulfill the requirements and whether gaps remain. To address these objectives GAO analyzed key documents on requirements and programs and held discussions with officials from the Navy and Marine Corps as well as other interested organizations."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In times of economic uncertainty as well as in times of stability, policymakers and the public rely on labor force statistics, such as the unemployment rate, to provide important information on the current state of the economy. These statistics, published by the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), include key figures that are based on data obtained from the Current Population Survey (CPS). The CPS, a household interview survey administered by the Department of Commerce's U.S. Census Bureau, is designed to represent the entire United States civilian noninstitutional population. However, certain U.S. residents--specifically, foreign-born persons who are not authorized to live here, to whom the Government Accountability Office (GAO) refers as unauthorized residents in this report--may not be represented in CPS data to the same extent as the general population. Little research has been done on whether potential underrepresentation of the unauthorized population might noticeably affect labor statistics, but policy efforts that depend on valid and reliable labor force statistics would benefit from such information. GAO agreed with the Bureau of Labor Statistics to examine issues concerning unauthorized residents' impact on labor force statistics. …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Small Business Administration's (SBA) loan origination and debt collection processes, focusing on the extent to which SBA has established: (1) adequate loan origination procedures and consistently obtains the required documents and data necessary for determining whether loan applicants comply with the program's statutory, regulatory, and eligibility requirements and have any outstanding, delinquent federal debt; and (2) a systematic process for identifying and collecting delinquent debts, including a prompt referral of delinquent debts to the Department of the Treasury for offset and cross-servicing programs."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "We found that:"

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This report formally transmits the briefing highlighting differences in the oversight of long-term care hospitals (LTCH), other types of hospitals, and nursing homes. This report is a partial response to a congressional request letter and was used to brief congressional staff on November 29, 2010. We provided a draft of this report to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and to The Joint Commission (TJC)--an accrediting organization that oversees the majority of LTCHs."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "During recent congressional hearings and in public speeches, statements made by the National Credit Union Administration's (NCUA) Chairman and another board member raised congressional interest in the ability of NCUA to collect and objectively analyze data on credit union membership and executive compensation. More generally, these statements also raised issues about the agency's overall vigilance as a regulator and the independence and objectivity of NCUA's board and senior staff from the industry being regulated. As a result, Congress asked us to expand upon our current work looking at the tax-exempt status of credit unions to include a review of governance policies and procedures for NCUA's board of directors and senior staff and more specifically how the policies and procedures address independence and objectivity issues. This correspondence (1) compares controls and related procedures applicable to NCUA that help ensure the independence and objectivity of its board members with those of other federal financial regulatory agencies and relevant recommended management practices identified in academic and industry literature and (2) describes NCUA's use of Schedule C staff compared with that of other federal financial regulatory agencies."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit report covering the financial statements of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association for fiscal year 2000. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit report included the auditor's opinion that, without exception, the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly on a modified cash basis of accounting."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Medicare pays for surgical procedures performed at ambulatory surgical centers (ASC) and hospital outpatient departments through different payment systems. Although they perform a similar set of procedures, no comparison of ASC and hospital outpatient per-procedure costs has been conducted. The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 directed GAO to compare the relative costs of procedures furnished in ASCs to the relative costs of those procedures furnished in hospital outpatient departments, in particular, how accurately the payment groups used in the hospital outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS) reflect the relative costs of procedures performed in ASCs. To do this, GAO collected data from ASCs through a survey. GAO also obtained hospital outpatient data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of State's (State) Nonproliferation and Disarmament Fund (NDF) has several key authorities that provide it significant operational flexibility; however, it has not determined its needed carryover balances and it has taken years to close out many of its projects in the absence of guidance for closing them. Annual appropriations bills have consistently provided NDF with three key authorities that it has used to carry out its activities. First, NDF has the authority to undertake projects notwithstanding any other provision of law. NDF has used this authority to fund projects in countries, such as North Korea, where U.S. assistance is prohibited by U.S. sanctions and other legal restrictions. Second, NDF has the authority to undertake projects globally. NDF has used this authority to fund projects in numerous regions around the world, in contrast with other U.S. nonproliferation programs, which have historically focused on countries in the former Soviet Union. Third, NDF's appropriations do not expire within a particular time period, enabling NDF to carry over balances from year to year not designated for specific projects. However, NDF has not determined appropriate levels for these balances, …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "During the course of a recent engagement reviewing noncompetitive contracting, we found that departments and agencies in the Department of Defense (DOD) are not submitting complete information, as required, to the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs (OASD[PA]), which then posts the information on its Web site as a public announcement. President Obama has emphasized transparency and openness in how the government spends taxpayer dollars. We are bringing this issue to the attention of the Defense Department's Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy due to its responsibility for acquisition and procurement policy matters in DOD. The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) requires contracting officers to make information on a contract action over a certain dollar amount publicly available on the same day the contract is awarded. The Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) further specifies that for contract actions over $5.5 million, departments and agencies are to submit certain information to the OASD(PA) by the close of business the day before the date of the proposed award, including, "as a minimum" (1) contract data, for example, contract number, face value of the action and total cumulative …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), working with state and local partners, provides landowners with technical assistance for multiple programs to plan and implement conservation measures that protect soil, water, and wildlife. For years, the Congress has been seeking detailed cost information on this assistance as it examined USDA budget requests. In part, because NRCS's financial system was not designed for estimating future budgets, in 1998 NRCS began developing additional cost data and a computer model for estimating future technical assistance costs. GAO was asked to (1) review NRCS's technical assistance cost estimates and (2) identify causes of any differences between the estimates and actual costs ultimately reported by NRCS."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Leaking underground storage tanks that contain hazardous products, primarily gasoline, can contaminate soil and groundwater. To address this problem, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), under its Underground Storage Tank (UST) Program, required tank owners to install leak detection equipment and take measures to prevent leaks. In 1986, the Congress created a federal trust fund to assist states with cleanups. Cleanup progress has been made, but, as of early 2005, cleanup efforts had not yet begun for over 32,000 tanks, many of which may require state and/or federal resources to address. GAO identified (1) data on the number and cleanup status of leaking tanks, (2) funding sources for tank cleanups, and (3) processes used by five states with large numbers of leaking tanks--California, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania--to identify, assess, and clean up sites."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Medicaid--the joint federal-state program that finances medical services for certain low-income adults and children--spent $15.0 billion on outpatient prescription drugs in fiscal year 2007. Instead of directly purchasing drugs, state Medicaid programs reimburse retail pharmacies for dispensing them to Medicaid beneficiaries. The federal government provides matching funds to states to help cover the costs of their Medicaid programs, and states must pay the remaining costs to qualify for these federal funds. For certain outpatient prescription drugs, state Medicaid programs may only receive federal matching funds for reimbursements up to a maximum amount known as a federal upper limit (FUL). Designed to control drug spending, FULs are currently calculated as 150 percent of a drug's lowest published price in three national drug pricing compendia. State Medicaid programs can determine reimbursements to retail pharmacies for each drug, but the federal government will only provide matching funds to the extent that reimbursements for all drugs subject to FULs do not exceed established FULs in the aggregate. A 2005 report by the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that FULs were ineffective at controlling outpatient …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, federal agencies have faced the challenge of protecting sensitive information from terrorists and others without a need to know while sharing this information with parties who are determined to have such a need. One form of protection involves identifying and marking such information sensitive but unclassified--information that is generally restricted from public disclosure but not designated as classified national security information. The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Transportation Security Administration (TSA) requires that certain information be protected from public disclosure as part of its responsibility for securing all modes of transportation. TSA, through its authority to protect information as sensitive security information (SSI), prohibits the public disclosure of information obtained or developed in the conduct of security activities that, for example, would be detrimental to transportation security. According to TSA, SSI may be generated by TSA, other DHS agencies, airports, aircraft operators, and other regulated parties when they, for example, establish or implement security programs or create documentation to address security requirements. Section 525 of the DHS Appropriations Act, 2007 (Public Law 109-295), required the Secretary of DHS to revise Management …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Under the Competition in Contracting Act of 1984, GAO is required to consider protests filed by interested parties concerning the terms of solicitations or contract awards. In deciding protests, GAO makes a determination of whether the agency's actions complied with procurement statutes and regulations. Aldevera, an SDVOSB concern, argued that two solicitations issued by the Veterans Administration should have been set aside for SDVOSB concerns."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Voting is fundamental to the U.S. democratic system and federal law provides broad protections for people with disabilities, including older voters. Many long-term care facility residents, who often have physical or cognitive impairments, vote by absentee or early ballot. Concerns have been raised about the extent to which states and localities are helping the increasing number of facility residents exercise their right to vote, especially those requiring voting assistance, who may be subject to undue influence or unauthorized completion of their ballot by facility staff or relatives. Given these concerns, GAO was asked to identify the actions taken to facilitate and protect voting for long-term care facility residents at (1) the state level and (2) the local level. To address these objectives, GAO interviewed federal officials, national organizations, and researchers; reviewed Election Assistance Commission (EAC) guidance on voting in long-term care facilities; surveyed state and local election officials; and visited seven localities in the weeks prior to the November 2008 federal election to observe the voting process in long-term care facilities."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides health care to about 4.7 million veterans primarily through its medical facilities--which include hospitals, nursing homes, outpatient clinics, and other health care facilities--and by contracting for care with other healthcare providers. To lower costs, increase access, and improve the quality of care provided to eligible veterans, VA evaluates the efficiency of its medical facilities, which includes performing studies to determine whether increased savings and efficiencies can be obtained from outsourcing certain segments of its operations. We have previously reported that VA would benefit from examining certain aspects of its operations, including its medical and laundry facilities, to determine if operational efficiencies could be achieved through consolidations, competitive sourcing, or both. While VA has the authority to conduct cost comparison studies and, when beneficial, to enter into contracts with commercial providers, VA may only finance cost comparison studies with funds that are legally available for this purpose. Under a provision in Title 38 of the U.S. Code, VA is prohibited by law from using any one of its Veterans Health Administration (VHA) appropriations for medical care, medical and prosthetic research, and medical …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit report covering the financial statements of the Military Order or the World Wars for fiscal year 2000. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit reports included the auditors' opinions that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly on a modified cash basis of accounting."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This document reviews the Department of Veterans Affairs' oversight of laundry services at its Medical Center in Albany, New York. GAO found inadequate management and oversight of the contract for operating the laundry facility. There was no separation of duties between the quality assurance evaluator and the contracting officer's technical representative. This individual allowed the contractor to deviate from the contract's terms. As a result, it appears that the contractor was overpaid for the services provided."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Under the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, commonly referred to as the Clean Water Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has responsibility for protecting public health and welfare, as well as the integrity of our nation's waters. Federal water requirements under these acts affect facilities providing the most basic services at the local level, including drinking water treatment plants and distribution systems; wastewater treatment plants and collection systems; and storm sewer systems, which collect storm water, or the runoff created by rainfall and other types of wet weather. For example, depending on the circumstances, local communities may have to pay for installing new treatment technologies or taking other measures so that community-based or regional facilities can meet applicable water quality standards. Nationwide, there are roughly 53,000 community drinking water systems, 17,000 municipal wastewater treatment plants, and 7,000 communities served by municipal storm sewer collection systems that may be affected by federal water requirements. While recognizing the public health and environmental benefits of federal water requirements, communities are increasingly voicing concerns about the financial burden imposed by these requirements--in particular, the projected costs …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit report covering the financial statements of the Jewish War Veterans, U.S.A., National Memorial, Incorporated, for fiscal year 2000. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit report included the auditors' opinion that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit resulted in the Forest Service's suspending or maintaining the suspension of 49 projects within Georgia's Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests--11 for contracted timber sales and 27 for vegetative management actions. The decision did not result in the suspension of projects in other national forests in Alabama and Florida. According to Forest Service officials and other stakeholders, the decision has had various consequences for timber sales and vegetative management projects in the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests. In some cases, such as the suspended timber sale projects, the consequences could be quantified in terms of monetary claims against the Forest Service and reduced receipts to local communities. In other cases, such as the suspended vegetative management projects, the consequences are more qualitative. According to Forest Service officials, the suspensions affected the Forest Service's ability to control for wildfires, sedimentation, and southern pine beetle infestations; to protect endangered species; and to ensure habitat diversity. Although the environmental group that filed the lawsuit against the Forest Service could not provide any data on the consequences of the suspended timber sales and vegetative …