A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 significantly changed Medicare's home health care payments to home health agencies (HHAs). Under a prospective payment system (PPS), HHAs are paid a fixed amount, adjusted for beneficiary care needs, for providing up to 60 days of care---termed a "home health episode." The act also imposed new interim payment limits to moderate spending until the PPS could be implemented. Although PPS was designed to lower Medicare spending below what it was under the interim system, GAO found that Medicare's payments for full home health care episodes were 35 percent higher than estimated in the first six months of 2001. These disparities indicate that Medicare's PPS overpays for services actually provided, although some HHAs facing extraordinary costs not accounted for by the payment system may be financially disadvantaged."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The National Park Service routinely issues permits for special park uses, such as special events or commercial filming and still photography. However, the National Football League's use of the National Mall to launch its 2003 season raised questions about whether permitting such events was consistent with existing policies and law and whether all applicable fees for permitting special park uses were being collected. GAO (1) identified applicable policy guidance for issuing special uses permits for special events and for commercial filming and still photography, (2) assessed the extent to which this guidance was applied during fiscal year 2003, and (3) determined the extent to which the Park Service implemented the requirement to collect location fees for commercial filming and still photography."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since the first financial statement audit was attempted at a major Department of Defense (DOD) component over 20 years ago, GAO and DOD auditors have continued to report significant weaknesses in the department's ability to provide timely, reliable, consistent, and accurate information for management analysis, decision-making, and reporting. DOD has undertaken a number of initiatives over the years, such as the Financial Improvement Initiative in 2003, to improve the department's business operations, including financial management, and achieve clean financial statement audit opinions. However, these initiatives have met with limited success. In 2005, the DOD Comptroller established the DOD Financial Improvement and Audit Readiness (FIAR) Directorate to manage DOD-wide financial improvement efforts and to integrate those efforts with transformation activities, such as those outlined in the Enterprise Transition Plan, across the department. The components report accomplishments and progress against planned corrective actions to the FIAR Directorate for reporting in the FIAR Plan. Congress asked GAO to analyze the department's FIAR Plan to identify any areas where improvements are needed to enhance the plan's effectiveness as a management tool for guiding, monitoring, and reporting on the department's efforts …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "According to U.S. embassy officials in Islamabad and unclassified U.S. intelligence documents, since 2002, al Qaeda and the Taliban have used Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and the border region to attack Pakistani, Afghan, U.S. and coalition troops; plan and train for attacks against U.S. interests; destabilize Pakistan; and spread radical Islamist ideologies that threaten U.S. interests. Since October 2001, the United States has provided Pakistan with over $10 billion for military, economic, and development activities in support of the critical U.S. national security goals of destroying terrorist threats and closing terrorist safe havens. A major component of this effort has been U.S. Coalition Support Funds (CSF) reimbursed to Pakistan. The purpose of CSF is to reimburse coalition countries for logistical and military support provided to United States military operations in the global war on terror. In Pakistan, reimbursements through CSF are intended to enable the government of Pakistan to attack terrorist networks in the FATA and stabilize the border areas. It is structured as a reimbursement mechanism in which the U.S. Department of Defense (Defense) policy is to validate that support was provided, costs were incurred, …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Title III of the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001, passed after the September 11 terrorist attacks, amended U.S. anti-money laundering laws and imposed new requirements on financial institutions. Section 326 of the act required the development of minimum standards for verifying the identity of financial institution customers. Section 314 required the development of regulations encouraging the further sharing of information between law enforcement agencies and the financial industry and between the institutions themselves. Because of concerns about the implementation of these new provisions, GAO determined how (1) the government developed the regulations, educated the financial industry on them, and challenges it encountered; (2) regulators have updated guidance, trained examiners, and examined firms for compliance; and (3) the new regulations have affected law enforcement investigations."

A statement of record issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The nation's transportation systems have become increasingly congested, and pressure on them is expected to grow substantially in the future. Most transportation experts think a multifaceted approach is needed to address congestion and improve mobility. One potential tool is congestion pricing, that is, charging users a toll, fee, or surcharge for using transportation infrastructure during certain peak periods of travel. Pilot projects to test this approach are currently under way in the United States and the technique has been used more extensively abroad. Interest in the usefulness of congestion pricing has been growing, as evidenced by several recent proposals. However, there have also been concerns raised about the fairness of such practices to some users of transportation systems. GAO was asked to identify (1) the potential benefits that can be expected from pricing congested transportation systems, approaches to using congestion pricing in transportation systems, and the implementation challenges that such pricing policies pose, and (2) examples of projects in which pricing of congested transportation systems has been applied to date, and what these examples reveal about potential benefits or challenges to implementation. This statement is …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This report provides a list of the various options available to reform the Social Security program. It includes a table that lists a wide range of provisions that various proposals have used in some form. In addition, there is a list of such proposals, all of which have been scored by the Social Security Administration's Office of the Chief Actuary (SSA/OCACT). Our list of provisions is intended to be generic and conceptual in nature. The list attempts to reflect, in general terms, all provisions that have appeared in SSA-scored proposals in the past few years. For each generic provision, a variety of approaches and parameters could be applied and have been proposed. For example, provisions to raise the retirement age take a variety of forms, including simply speeding up the currently scheduled increase from age 65 to 67, increasing the full retirement age to 68 or 70, indexing the retirement age to improvements in longevity, and even combinations of these. All of these variations have been consolidated into one general provision for increasing the retirement age. The table also briefly discusses each reform option in general terms according …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Because of increased awareness of threats to national security and efforts to privatize federal jobs, the demand for security clearances for government and industry personnel has increased. Industry personnel are taking on a greater role in national security work for the Department of Defense (DOD) and other federal agencies. Because many of these jobs require access to classified information, industry personnel need security clearances. As of September 30, 2003, industry workers held about one-third of the approximately 2 million DOD-issued security clearances. Terrorist attacks have heightened national security concerns and underscored the need for a timely, high-quality personnel security clearance process. However, GAO's past work found that DOD had a clearance backlog and other problems with its process. GAO was asked to review the clearance eligibility determination process and backlog for industry personnel. This testimony presents our preliminary observations on the security clearance process for industry personnel and describes (1) the size of the backlog and changes in the time needed to issue eligibility determinations, (2) the impediments to reducing the backlog and delays, and (3) some of the initiatives that DOD is considering to eliminate the backlog …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Cannon House Office Building (Cannon Building)--completed in 1908--and the East and West House Underground Garages (East and West Garages)--built in 1968--have deteriorated over time and will need to be repaired, according to assessments conducted for the Architect of the Capitol (AOC). AOC plans to renovate these three facilities over approximately the next 8 years as part of a long-term effort to reduce maintenance backlogs and execute major renewal projects to sustain all Capitol Complex facilities."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Over 65 percent of American households currently subscribe to cable television service. There has been increasing concern that cable television rates have been rising aster than the rate of inflation for the last few years. As required, on a yearly basis, FCC prepares a report on cable rates in areas that face and those that do not face effective competition--a term defined by statute. For information used in this report, FCC maintains information on the competitive status of cable franchises and annually surveys a sample of cable franchises. GAO examined (1) the reliability of information that cable companies provided to FCC in its annual survey regarding cost factors underlying cable rate increases and (2) FCC's process for updating and revising cable franchise classifications as to whether they face effective competition."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 1996, the former U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, now within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Social Security Administration (SSA) began operating a voluntary pilot program, recently named the E-Verify program, to provide participating employers with a means for electronically verifying employees' work eligibility. Legislation has been introduced in Congress to require all employers to electronically verify the work authorization status of their employees. In this testimony GAO provides observations on the E-Verify system's capacity and costs, options for reducing delays and improving efficiency in the verification process, ability to detect fraudulent documents and identity theft, and vulnerability to employer fraud and misuse. This testimony is based on GAO's products issued from August 2005 through June 2007 and updated information obtained from DHS and SSA in April 2008. We analyzed data on employer use, E-Verify guidance, and other reports on the employment verification process, as well as legislative proposals and regulations."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In 1996, the Congress authorized an experimental initiative called the Recreational Fee Demonstration Program that provides funds to increase the quality of visitor experience and enhance resource protection. Under the program, the Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service--all within the Department of the Interior--and the Forest Service--within the U.S. Department of Agriculture--are authorized to establish, charge, collect, and use fees at a number of sites to, among other things, address a backlog of repair and maintenance needs. Also, sites may retain and use the fees they collect. The Congress is now considering, through H.R. 3283, whether to make the program permanent. Central to the debate is how effectively the agencies are using the revenues that they have collected. This testimony focuses on the potential effect of H.R. 3283 on the issues GAO raised previously in its work on the Recreational Fee Demonstration Program. Specifically, it examines the extent to which H.R. 3283 would affect (1) federal agencies' deferred maintenance programs, (2) the management and distribution of the revenue collected, and (3) interagency coordination on fee collection and use."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The District of Columbia Family Court Act of 2001 was enacted to (1) redesignate the Family Division of the Superior Court as the Family Court of the Superior Court, (2) recruit trained and experienced judges to serve in the Family Court, and (3) promote consistency and efficiency in the assignment of judges and the courts actions and proceedings. The act requires the chief judge of the Superior Court to submit a transition plan outlining the proposed operation of the Family Court. The plan shows that the Superior Court has made progress transitioning its Family Division to a Family Court, but challenges remain. The transition plan addresses most, but not all, of the act's required elements. For example, the plan identifies the number of judges and magistrate judges needed and outlines an approach for closing or transferring cases from other divisions to the Family Court. However, the plan does not include (1) a request that the Judicial Nomination Commission recruit and the president nominate the additional judges the court believes are necessary, (2) the number of nonjudicial staff needed for the Family Court, (3) information on the …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony provides information on two important tools state insurance regulators use to oversee the market activities of insurance companies--market analysis and market conduct examinations. Market analysis is generallly done in the state insurance departments. It consists of gathering and integrating information about insurance companies' operations in order to monitor market behavior and identify potential problems at an early stage. Market conduct examinations, which are generally done on site, are a review of an insurer's marketplace practices. The examination is an opportunity to verify data provided to the department by the insurer and to confirm that companies' internal controls and operational processes result in compliance with state laws and regulations. Specifically, this testimony focuses on (1) the states' use of market analysis and examinations in market regulation, and (2) the effectiveness of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' (NAIC) efforts to improve these oversight tools and encourage the states to use them."

Other written product issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The nation's economy and its citizens' quality of life depend on our transportation system. While all government levels have made significant investments in transportation, projections of future passenger and freight travel indicate that considerable investment will be needed to maintain the system. However, this comes amid growing concern about the size of the federal budget deficit and increasing demands on state and local government revenue. As a result, careful decisions will need to be made to ensure that transportation investments maximize the benefits of each dollar invested. The House Appropriations Committee report accompanying the fiscal year 2004 Departments of Transportation and Treasury and Independent Agencies Appropriations Bill, required GAO to review the benefits and costs of various transportation modes. (See GAO-05-172.) As part of this study, GAO convened an expert panel that included some of the leading transportation economists and practitioners from throughout the nation. The panel discussed the benefits and costs of highway and transit investments."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For more than a decade, GAO has reported that Medicare has paid higher than market rates for medical equipment and supplies provided to beneficiaries under Medicare Part B. Since 1989, Medicare has used fee schedules primarily based on historical charges to set payment amounts. But this approach lacks flexibility to keep pace with market changes and increases costs to the federal government and Medicare's 44 million elderly and disabled beneficiaries. The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 required the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)--the agency that administers Medicare--to test competitive bidding as a new way to set payments. CMS did this through a demonstration in two locations in which suppliers could compete on the basis of price and other factors for the right to provide their products. The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) required CMS to conduct competitive bidding on a large scale and suppliers to obtain accreditation. GAO was asked to describe the effects that competitive bidding could have on Medicare program payments and suppliers and the need for adequate oversight to ensure quality and access for beneficiaries in a competitive …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Over 80 percent of the approximately 200 billion mail pieces processed and delivered by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) last year was sent by commercial mailers that barcode, sort, or transport mail to get lower postage rates. Starting in May 2009, USPS will encourage these mailers to use new barcodes that have increased capabilities as part of Intelligent Mail, a new program. According to USPS, Intelligent Mail is the most complex change it has ever undertaken. GAO was asked to describe (1) the Intelligent Mail program and the status of implementation efforts and (2) the key risks to implementing Intelligent Mail and how USPS is addressing these risks. GAO reviewed USPS and regulatory documents, public comments, and interviewed USPS officials, mailers, and mailer representatives involved in developing this program."

The objectives of the confirmatory survey activities were to provide independent contractor field data reviews and to generate independent radiological data for use by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in evaluating the adequacy and accuracy of the licensee’s procedures and final status survey (FSS) results.

Processes during laser plasma experiments typically have time scales that are less than 100 ps. The measurement of these processes requires X-ray detectors with fast temporal resolution. We have measured the temporal responses and linearity of several different X-ray sensitive Photoconductive Detectors (PCDs). The active elements of the detectors investigated include both diamond (natural and synthetic) and GaAs crystals. The typical time responses of the GaAs PCDs are approximately 60 ps, respectively. Some characterizations using X-ray light from a synchrotron light source are presented.

The concept for Electron Fast Ignition Inertial Confinement Fusion demands sufficient laser energy be transferred from the ignitor pulse to the assembled fuel core via {approx}MeV electrons. We have assembled a suite of diagnostics to characterize such transfer. Recent experiments have simultaneously fielded absolutely calibrated extreme ultraviolet multilayer imagers at 68 and 256eV; spherically bent crystal imagers at 4 and 8keV; multi-keV crystal spectrometers; MeV x-ray bremmstrahlung and electron and proton spectrometers (along the same line of sight); nuclear activation samples and a picosecond optical probe based interferometer. These diagnostics allow careful measurement of energy transport and deposition during and following laser-plasma interactions at extremely high intensities in both planar and conical targets. Augmented with accurate on-shot laser focal spot and pre-pulse characterization, these measurements are yielding new insight into energy coupling and are providing critical data for validating numerical PIC and hybrid PIC simulation codes in an area that is crucial for many applications, particularly fast ignition. Novel aspects of these diagnostics and how they are combined to extract quantitative data on ultra high intensity laser plasma interactions are discussed, together with implications for full-scale fast ignition experiments.

This presentation's summaries: a convenient truth, comparison of three concentrator technologies, value of high efficiency, and status of industry.

This report assesses the potential for future precipitation of expansive phases that could cause fracturing in saltstone. It examines the equilibrium case using The Geochemist's Workbench{reg_sign} reaction path model. The scenarios simulated examine the effects of different possible infiltrating fluids, different saltstone formulations, and different amounts of minerals available for reaction. Mineralogy of the vault cement and saltstone were estimated using reported chemical compositions of each. The infiltrating fluid was assumed to be either rainwater equilibrated with vault cement or rainwater itself. The simulations assumed that minerals were homogeneously distributed in saltstone and that each pore volume of infiltration reached equilibrium with the mineral assemblage. Fracturing that initiates in pores by expansive phase precipitation is unlikely to occur in saltstone because the maximum amount of porosity filled is 34%. If less than 100% of the saltstone minerals are available for reaction, less porosity will be lost to expansive phases. Likewise, the formulation of saltstone used will affect the amount of porosity filled by expansive phases.

At the National Ignition Facility (NIF), 192 laser beams will compress a target containing a mixture of deuterium and tritium (DT) that will release fusion neutrons, photons, and other radiation. Diagnostics are being designed to measure this emitted radiation to infer crucial parameters of an ignition shot. Chemical Vapor Deposited (CVD) diamond is one of the ignition diagnostics that will be used as a neutron time-of-flight detector for measuring primary (14.1 MeV) neutron yield, ion temperature, and plasma areal density. This last quantity is the subject of this study and is inferred from the number of downscattered neutrons arriving late in time, divided by the number of primary neutrons. We determine in this study the accuracy with which this detector can measure areal density, when the limiting factor is detector and electronics saturation. We used laser-produced x-rays to reproduce NIF signals in terms of charge carriers density, time between pulses, and amplitude contrast and found that the effect of the large pulse on the small pulse is at most 8.4%, which is less than the NIF accuracy requirement of {+-} 10%.

This report offers the most recent development regarding the soil and water conservation topics and current major conservation activities. The report addresses these conservation topics; what should be the priorities for the conservation effort; and deciding whether any existing programs or activities should be modified or eliminated and whether new programs or activities should be added to the effort.