Newsletter of the Texas Department of Health discussing the news, activities, and events of the organization and other information related to health in Texas.

This report will be updated periodically to reflect changes in either statutory or inflation-adjusted rates, or any changes in tax provisions that benefit the disabled.

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Monthly newsletter discussing news and activities related to the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program, articles about weather and atmospheric phenomena, and other related topics.

Monthly newsletter discussing news and activities related to the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program, articles about weather and atmospheric phenomena, and other related topics.

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "As part of its requirement to audit the U.S. government's fiscal year 2001 financial statements, GAO reviewed the general and application computer controls over key financial systems maintained and operated by the Federal Reserve Banks (FRB) on behalf of the Department of the Treasury's Bureau of the Public Debt (BPD). GAO found that the 12 FRBs perform fiscal agent services on behalf of the U.S. government, including BPD. Five FRB data centers maintain and operate key BPD financial applications relevant to the Schedule of Federal Debt. BPD maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control relevant to the Schedule of Federal Debt related to financial reporting and compliance with applicable laws and regulations as of September 30, 2001. BPD's internal control, which includes the general and application controls implemented by the FRBs over key BPD systems relevant to the Schedule of Federal Debt, provided reasonable assurance that misstatements, losses, or noncompliance material in relation to the Schedule of Federal Debt for fiscal year 2001 would be prevented or detected on a timely basis. A follow-up on the status of the FRB's corrective actions to address vulnerabilities identified in …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In addition to providing an overview of a company's business operations, the annual reports submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission present important information on an employer's estimated obligations for postemployment benefits, including retiree health benefits. However, the assumption used to estimate obligations for postemployment benefits vary across companies and are not comparable. Financial Accounting Standards Board guidelines give employers latitude in calculating these obligations. Moreover, changes in companies' benefit offerings or financial stability would likely alter companies' obligations for retiree health benefits. Most employers also reserve the right to change or terminate retiree health benefits."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) spent about $3.1 billion on long-term care in fiscal year 2001, This amount is likely to increase as the veteran population ages. VA provides or pays for long-term care in institutional settings, such as nursing homes, or in veteran's own homes and other community locations. The Veterans Millennium Health Care and Benefits Act of 1999 required VA to offer long-term care services to eligible veterans, including in noninstitutional settings. More than two years after the act's passage, VA has not completely met the act's requirement that all eligible veterans be offered adult day health care, respite care, and geriatric evaluation. Although VA published draft regulations that would make these three services available, the regulations were not finalized as of March 2002. To respond to the act's requirements before its draft regulations were finalized, VA issued a policy directive making these three services available in noninstitutional settings. At the time of GAO's review, however, access to these services was far from universal. Moreover, the availability of all VA noninstitutional long-term care services, including the newly required services, is uneven across the VA system."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report evaluates the use of profits from the Library of Congress' retail activities to support other Library activities. GAO found that the Library has not yet developed an overall plan, specific business plans, pricing policies, or the accounting procedures to generate profits to support other activities. Although it has policies and procedures to control the use of its logo, the Library has not yet defined the scope and mission of the retailing functions, control of products, or licensing agreements. The Library's three major retail activities--the Photoduplication Service, the Gift Shop, and the Audio Video Laboratory--have not consistently generated profits or covered all costs for the last five years. In each case, the activity's total expenses exceeded its total revenues. GAO found that the Library is not able to conduct a study on generating profits from the its retail activities to support other Library activities or evaluate options."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) prepares an annual report on the implementation of the Paperwork Reduction Act. OIRA's fiscal year 2002 report differed from the agency's previous reports in two important respects. First, the report provided agency-specific information on paperwork burden-hour estimates and violations only for the cabinet departments and the Environmental Protection Agency, but not for for the 12 independent agencies that had been included previously. Second, the report merged data on causes of changes in agencies' burden-hour estimates that previously had been presented separately. According to OIRA the agencies were excluded because (1) OMB's authority over the independent agencies is limited, (2) most independent agencies have total burden inventories under 10 million hours, and (3) OMB can best use its limited resources by focusing on the agencies that impose the most paperwork burden and over which OMB has more authority. OIRA classifies modifications in agencies' burden-hour estimates as either "adjustments" or "program changes." Although OIRA reported adjustments and program changes as separate data in fiscal years 2000 and 2001, the fiscal year 2002 report only included information …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11 caused enormous losses in New York City. These include the direct costs of the destruction to lives and property, as well as cleanup, and the indirect costs of lost income brought about by business closings and related spending reductions. It is expected that some of the losses will be covered by payments from private insurance, emergency federal relief funds, and charitable contributions. Other losses, however, may never be recovered because some individuals and businesses were uninsured or may not qualify for federal relief or charity. In reviewing eight studies from seven different organizations on the economic impact of the attacks, GAO found that they varied in the standard economic criteria used for analyzing economic impacts. In addition, the studies used different periods of time to estimate future costs that might be incurred. GAO found that the study by the New York City Partnership provided the most comprehensive estimates. The study estimated that the attacks on the two World Trade Center buildings cost $83 billion (in 2001 dollars) in total losses including both direct and indirect costs and …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 seeks to maximize collections of delinquent nontax debt owed to the federal government. However, the act also seeks to reduce losses by requiring proper screening of potential borrowers and information sharing within and among federal agencies. The major information sources of data on delinquent federal debtors are credit bureau reports, the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Credit Alert Interactive Voice Response System (CAIVRS), and the Financial Management Service's (FMS) Treasury Offset Program's (TOP) database. There is no effective mechanism for federal implementation of the act's debtor bar provision. Although credit bureau reports, CAIVRS, and FMS's TOP database each contain some information on delinquent federal nontax debtors, none provides all-inclusive, timely data or maintains them long enough to serve as an adequate data source for successfully barring future financial assistance to currently delinquent debtors or those who did not meet their past obligations. The TOP database, with modifications, now provides an adequate reference point for identifying delinquent debtors to deny them additional financial assistance. Maximizing the TOP database as a delinquency reporting tool would require several changes, such as …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Head Start and Even Start Family Literacy programs have sought to improve the educational and economic outcomes for millions of disadvantaged children and their families. Because the two programs seek similar outcomes for similar populations, GAO has pointed out that they need to work together to avoid inefficiencies in program administrative and service delivery. Questions have also arisen about the wisdom of having similar early childhood programs administered by different departments. Head Start's goal is to ensure that young children are ready for school, and program eligibility is tied to specific income guidelines. In contrast, Even Start's goal is to improve family literacy and the educational opportunities of both the parents and their young children. Even Start eligibility is tied to parents' educational attainment. Despite these differences, both programs are required to provide similar services. Both programs have some similar and some identical performance measures and outcome expectations for children, but not for parents. Head Start and Even Start grantees provided some similar services to young children and families, but how these programs served adults reflect the variations in the need of the parents. No …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "When computing their federal taxes, taxpayers either claim a standard or itemized deduction. In recent years, about 70 percent of taxpayers have claimed the standard deduction. GAO found that on 948,000 tax returns for tax year 1998, taxpayers did not itemize their deductions yet had payments for mortgage interest and points and for state and local income tax that exceeded the standard deductions for their filing status. GAO estimated that these taxpayers are likely to have overpaid their taxes by about $473 million. When charitable contributions, real estate and personal property tax payments are included, the total overpayment could reach $945 million."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides health care services to veterans who have been diagnosed with psychosis--primarily schizophrenia, a disorder that can substantially limit their ability to care for themselves, secure employment, and maintain relationships. These veterans also have a high risk of premature death, including suicide. Effective treatment, especially antipsychotic drug therapy, has reduced the severity of their illnesses and increased their ability to function in society. VA's guideline for prescribing atypical antipsychotic drugs is sound and consistent with published clinical practice guidelines used by public and private health care systems. VA's prescribing guideline, recommends that physicians use their best clinical judgment, based on clinical circumstances and patients' needs, when choosing among the atypical drugs. Most Veterans Integrated Service Networks and facilities use VA's prescribing guideline; however, five VISNs have additional policies and procedures for prescribing atypical antipsychotic drugs. Although these procedures help manage pharmaceutical cost, they also have the potential to result in more weight given to cost than clinical judgment which is not consistent with the prescribing guideline."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) runs two programs--the Heroin Signature Program and the Domestic Monitor Program--that provide information on trends in heroin trafficking. The only programs of their kind in this country, these two program conduct chemical analyses to pinpoint the geographic origin of heroin being sold on the streets. The Domestic Monitor Program determines (1) the source of heroin that has been bought undercover in 23 U.S. cities and (2) the purity and price of heroin at the retail level. The Heroin Signature Program provides law enforcement with information on the origins of heroin at the wholesale and retail level in some U.S. cities. Data from the two programs are included in intelligence and investigative reports provided to DEA and other federal law enforcement agencies, which use this information to adjust their drug enforcement efforts. The quantity of heroin seized by the Customs Service at ports-of-entry but not sent to DEA for testing may make a difference in the results reported by DEA. All seizures at ports-of-entry forwarded to DEA are tested for geographic source, according to DEA officials. However, Customs is not required to …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO's continuing reviews of the acquisition workforce, focusing on the Department of Defense (DOD); the Departments of the Army, Navy, and Air Force; the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Energy, and Health and Human Services; the General Services Administration; and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, indicate that some of the government's largest procurement operations are not run efficiently. GAO found that requirements are not clearly defined, prices and alternatives are not fully considered, or contracts are not adequately overseen. The ongoing technological revolution requires a workforce with new knowledge, skills, and abilities, and the nature of acquisition is changing from routine simple buys toward more complex acquisitions and new business practices. DOD has adopted multidisciplinary and multifunctional definitions of their acquisition workforce, but the civilian agencies have not. DOD and the civilian agencies reviewed have developed specific training requirements for their acquisition workforce and mechanisms to track the training of acquisition personnel. All of the agencies reviewed said they had sufficient funding to provide current required core training for their acquisition workforce, but some expressed concerns about funding training for future requirements and career development, particularly …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1999, the Department of Education (Education) has offered a 0.25 percent interest rate reduction to borrowers who agree to an electronic debit (EDA) program. Borrowers pay a lower interest rate, while the federal government receives fewer late payments. Any revenue loss to the federal government from a reduced interest rate would be more than offset by a gain in revenue because some EDA borrowers who had previously paid by check would stop making periodic payments in excess of their scheduled amount due. By ceasing to make these prepayments, these borrowers would not pay off their loans as soon as they would have without signing up for EDA and, therefore, incur additional interest costs over the life of their loans. Although actual EDA enrollments have exceeded original estimates, Education lacks data on prepayment patterns after borrowers enroll in the program. Education has not informed borrowers of the cost implications of EDA participation, nor has it systematically informed borrowers of their prepayment options. GAO estimates that Education saved $1.5 million in administrative costs in fiscal year 2001 because it did not have to mail bills to EDA …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Congress created the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) in 1997 to reduce the number of uninsured children in families with incomes that are too high to qualify for Medicaid. Financed jointly by the states and the federal government, SCHIP encourages state participation by offering a higher federal matching rate than the Medicaid program. Concerns have been raised that states might inappropriately enroll Medicaid-eligible children in SCHIP and thus obtain higher federal matching funds than allowed under Medicaid. The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) concluded that Medicaid-eligible children were not being enrolled in SCHIP by the 13 states that administer separate child health care programs. Furthermore, the issue of appropriate enrollment is not limited to states with completely separate child health programs but also applies to those states with combination programs and Medicaid expansions, which also receive the higher SCHIP matching rate. The OIG could not conclude whether states were reducing the number of uninsured children and meeting the objectives and goals they established in their SCHIP programs. The OIG found that some states had set program goals without considering …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration (PWBA) safeguards the economic interests of more than 150 million people in six million employee benefit plans. To enforce the provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), PWBA investigates employee benefit plans, conducts public education, and has begun a new voluntary correction program. Through its plan investigations, PWBA detects and corrects violations and has a deterrent presence that will prevent future violations. The Office of Enforcement prescribes areas for its regions to investigate. Regional offices have considerable flexibility in implementing PWBA's enforcement strategy by focusing most of their investigations on local issues. Although PWBA has taken steps to strengthen its enforcement activities, GAO found weaknesses in PWBA's enforcement strategy management and investigative process, its overall human capital management, and its measures for addressing program performance."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In recent years, local school districts and traditional public schools have taken various initiatives to improve failing schools. School districts and charter schools are increasingly contracting with private, for-profit companies to provide a range of education and management services to schools. In the District of Columbia, some public schools contract with three such companies: Edison Schools, Mosaica Education, and Chancellor Beacon Academies. These three companies have programs that consist of both management services, such as personnel, and educational services, which they offer to schools across the nation; in the District, most of the schools managed by these companies have either adopted selected elements of their companies' programs or chosen other educational programs. Each company provides services such as curriculum, assessments, parental involvement opportunities, and student and family support. Little is known about the effectiveness of these companies' programs on student achievement, parental satisfaction, parental involvement, or school climate because few rigorous studies have been conducted. Although the companies publish year-to-year comparisons of standardized test scores to indicate that students in schools they manage are making academic gains, they do not present data on comparable students who …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In response to persistent security weaknesses at nuclear weapons facilities during the late 1990s, the Department of Energy (DOE) undertook several initiatives and Congress created the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) as a separate entity with DOE. DOE and NNSA have made progress in implementing many of the 75 initiatives undertaken since 1998. Lessons from these initiatives could help improve implementation of future efforts. DOE and NNSA have completed 64 percent of the initiatives, and most of the rest should be completed by December 2002. NNSA has begun a security organization and program to safeguard nuclear information and materials, but several key issues still need to be addressed to ensure the new program's effectiveness. NNSA has almost completed staffing the two new offices created to lead its security and counterintelligence activities and, with DOE, is completing a detailed review of security policies and procedures. NNSA has also begun specific activities, including training, to create a security-oriented culture in its organization."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Each year, fires on federal lands burn millions of acres and federal land management agencies spend hundreds of millions of dollars to fight them. Wildland fires also threaten communities adjacent to federal lands. The Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and the Interior, the lead federal agencies in fighting wildfires, jointly developed a long-term fire-fighting strategy in September 2000. Five federal land management agencies--the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the National Park Service, and the Fish and Wildlife Service--are working together to accomplish the plan's objectives. GAO found that the Forest Service and Interior have not effectively determined the amount of personnel and equipment needed to respond to and suppress wildland fires. Although the agencies have acquired considerably more personnel and equipment than were available in 2000, they have not acquired all of the resources needed to implement the new strategy. Despite having received substantial additional funding, the two agencies have not yet developed performance measures. The Forest Service simply measures the amount of fire-fighting resources it will be able to devote to fire fighting at each location, regardless of risk. …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 seeks to maximize the collection of billions of dollars of nontax delinquent debt owed to the federal government. The act requires agencies to refer eligible debts delinquent more than 180 days to the Department of the Treasury for payment offset and to Treasury or a Treasury-designated debt collection center for cross-servicing. The Treasury Offset Program includes the offset of benefit payments, vendor payments, and tax refunds. Cross-servicing involves locating debtors, issuing demand letters, and referring debts to private collection agencies. The Farm Service Agency (FSA) has initiatives to ensure the timely referral of all delinquent debt. However, the agency's failure to make the act a priority has left key provisions of the legislation unimplemented and has severely reduced opportunities for collection. FSA lacks effective procedures and controls to identify and promptly refer eligible delinquent debts to Treasury for collection action. GAO identified several obstacles to FSA's establishment and implementation of an effective and complete debt-referral process. In the four states with the highest dollar amounts of federal debt excluded from the Treasury Offset Program, GAO reviewed FSA's use of …