Actions to satisfy the intent of the recommendation have not been taken or are being planned, or actions that partially satisfy the intent of the recommendation have been taken.
,Actions that satisfy the intent of the recommendation have been taken.
, 1. Study shows vaccines carry much lower risk of blood clots than COVID-19. Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Gao Fu is walking back comments he made about the country's COVID-19 vaccines. The CARES Act included economic impact payments (EIP) for eligible individuals to address financial stress due to the pandemic. To better understand the differences in burden, CDC should determine whether it needs authority from Congress to require the reporting of race and ethnicity information for cases and hospitalizations. The Secretary of the Treasury, in coordination with the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, should update and refine the estimate of eligible recipients who have yet to file for an economic impact payment to help target outreach and communications efforts. In addition, the guidance did not direct agencies to consider associated risks, such as changes to eligibility rules and different payment processes, as part of their improper payment estimation methodologies. These actions have helped direct much-needed federal assistance to support many aspects of public life, including local public health systems and private-sector businesses. As CDC implements its COVID-19 Response Health Equity Strategy, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should involve key stakeholders to help ensure the complete and consistent collection of demographic data. Stakeholders GAO interviewed identified challenges with initial COVID-19 vaccine implementation. In addition, based on OMB guidance, improper payment estimates associated with new COVID-19 programs established in March 2020 may not be reported until November 2022, in some instances. HHS and FEMA—working with relevant stakeholders—should devise interim solutions, such as systems and guidance and dissemination of best practices, to help states enhance their ability to track the status of supply requests and plan for supply needs for the remainder of the COVID-19 pandemic response. The Secretary of the Treasury, in coordination with the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, should begin tracking and publicly reporting the number of individuals who were mailed an economic impact payment notification letter and subsequently filed for and received an economic impact payment, and use that information to inform ongoing outreach and communications efforts. (Recommendation 9), 10. HHS agreed with the recommendation. HHS, in coordination with FEMA, should further develop and communicate to stakeholders plans outlining specific actions the federal government will take to help mitigate supply chain shortages for the remainder of the pandemic. (Recommendation 6), 7. Timely and concerted federal leadership will be required in responding to these and other challenges. In November 2020, HHS repeated its disagreement with GAO’s recommendations and noted its efforts to meet the needs of states. GAO recommends that HHS, in consultation with CMS and CDC, develop a strategy to capture more complete data on COVID-19 cases and deaths in nursing homes retroactively back to January 1, 2020. Our oversight of the federal COVID-19 response continues. CDC agreed with our recommendation. Vaccines and Therapeutics. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) neither agreed nor disagreed with the recommendation. Pfizer CEO says third Covid vaccine dose likely needed within 12 months Published Thu, Apr 15 2021 1:23 PM EDT Updated Thu, Apr 15 2021 1:38 PM EDT Berkeley Lovelace Jr. @BerkeleyJr A report of a joint inquiry by the World ... type of vaccines given, Mr. Gao said. This document outlined the steps in Treasury's compliance monitoring process. However, unlike the supplemental appropriations acts that provided for disaster relief related to the 2017 hurricanes and California wildfires, the COVID-19 relief laws did not require agencies to deem programs receiving these relief funds that expend more than a threshold amount as "susceptible to significant improper payments." (Recommendation 12), 13. China currently has five vaccines in use in its mass immunization campaign, three inactivated-virus vaccines from Sinovac and Sinopharm, a one-shot vaccine from CanSino, and the last from Gao’s team in partnership with Anhui Zhifei Longcom. GAO urges Congress to take swift action to require such a plan, without which the U.S. will not be as prepared to minimize and quickly respond to ongoing and future communicable disease events. In particular, while it is expected that guidance will change as new information about the novel virus evolves, frequent changes to general CDC testing guidelines have not always been communicated with a scientific explanation. IRS agreed with our recommendation and said that it would start to update the Form 1040-X instructions to include information on the electronic filing (e-file) capability for tax year 2019. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and FEMA have both identified shortages, and officials from seven of the eight states GAO interviewed in July and August 2020 identified previous or ongoing shortages of testing supplies, including swabs, reagents, tubes, pipettes, and transport media. In November 2020, we reported that HHS and the Department of Defense (DOD) had released initial planning documents for the distribution and administration of potential COVID-19 vaccines, but also reported that stakeholders indicated that they would like to see additional information as planning continued. GAO has identified issues in need of attention by the Administration and the Congress, including the need to collect reliable data that can drive decision-making; to establish mechanisms for accountability and transparency; and to protect against ongoing cyber threats to patient information, intellectual property, public health data, and intelligence. (Recommendation 11), COVID-19: Urgent Actions Needed to Better Ensure an Effective Federal Response. (Recommendation 4), 5. This should especially be required for already existing federal programs that received COVID-19 relief funding. While CMS is not obligated to implement all of the commission’s recommendations, the agency has not indicated any areas where it does not plan to take action. We will continue to monitor the agency's actions to address this recommendation. GAO is also raising one matter for congressional consideration. (Recommendation 6), 7. At the same time, many of the federal, state, and local agencies responsible for responding to the ongoing public health emergency are called on to prepare for and respond to the current hurricane season. Treasury and IRS officials did not plan to track and analyze the outcomes of their EIP notice mailing effort until 2021. The letters also provided instructions on how to request a payment. DOL partially agreed with our recommendation. OMB issued the 2020 Compliance Supplement in August 2020, but the Compliance Supplement specified that OMB is still working with federal agencies to identify the needs for additional guidance for auditing new COVID-19-related programs, including the CRF payments, as well as existing programs with compliance requirement changes. Additionally, VA does not collect timely data on the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths occurring at each state veterans home, hindering its ability to monitor and take steps to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in these homes. The Secretary of Health and Human Services in coordination with the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency—who head agencies leading the COVID-19 response through the Unified Coordination Group—should further develop and communicate to stakeholders plans outlining specific actions the federal government will take to help mitigate remaining medical supply gaps necessary to respond to the remainder of the pandemic, including through the use of Defense Production Act authorities. GAO identified concerns about efforts to monitor CARES Act financial assistance to the aviation sector. GAO recommends that Treasury, in coordination with IRS, should begin tracking and publicly reporting the number of individuals who were mailed an EIP notification letter and filed for and received an EIP, and use that information to inform ongoing outreach and communications efforts. We found that CDC had removed some and updated other information and had begun including summaries of changes made to the guidance at the top of some webpages. A timelier update to the instructions would help taxpayers filing the 1040-X between now and when the annual update to the instructions occurs in mid-2021. WASHINGTON, DC (January 28, 2021)— Today the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued its fifth comprehensive report examining the ongoing implementation of the CARES Act and other pandemic relief measures in response to our nation’s continued effort to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. In January 2021, Treasury revised its estimate of eligible recipients who have yet to file for an EIP 1 to 8 million. GAO recommends that OMB, in consultation with Treasury, issue the addendum to the 2020 Compliance Supplement as soon as possible to provide the necessary audit guidance, as many single audit efforts are underway. In light of the surge in COVID-19 cases, along with reported shortages, including GAO’s nationwide survey findings, GAO underscores the critical imperative for HHS and FEMA to implement GAO’s September 2020 recommendations. We acknowledge those efforts, but continue to maintain that our recommendations are warranted. GAO has identified numerous cybersecurity weaknesses at multiple HHS component agencies, including CMS, CDC, and the Food and Drug Administration, during the last six years. As of March 2021, SBA has not fully implemented this recommendation. GAO is pleased that the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021—enacted in December of 2020—requires a number of actions that are consistent with several of GAO’s prior recommendations, including those related to the medical supply chain, vaccines and therapeutics, and COVID-19 testing. The Department of Defense (DOD) disagreed with our recommendation. However, some taxpayers will use Form 1040-X for other CARES Act refunds after that deadline, so instructions that are updated in tax year 2021 would still help ensure these taxpayers are aware of this option. We will continue to conduct work examining HHS, CDC, and other component agencies' ongoing work regarding indicators of COVID-19 and disparities that exist for various populations. As of February 2021, VA is collecting data on COVID-19 cases and deaths at most state veterans homes in collaboration with CDC's National Healthcare Safety Network. (Recommendation 5), 6. As of February 2021, CMS had no additional updates. Although the media continue to praise Biden for his development and deployment of the COVID-19 vaccine, Levin cited a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that suggested otherwise, giving former President Donald Trump's Operation Warp Speed a "sterling review." GAO has identified lessons learned and issues in need of continued attention by the Congress and the administration, including the need to collect reliable data that can drive decision-making; to establish mechanisms for accountability and transparency; and to protect against ongoing cyber threats to patient information, intellectual property, public health data, and intelligence. The Department of the Treasury’s (Treasury) Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued economic impact payments (EIP) to all eligible individuals for whom IRS has the necessary information to do so; however, not everyone eligible was able to be initially identified. We will continue to conduct work examining HHS, CDC, and other component agencies' ongoing work regarding indicators of COVID-19 and disparities that exist for various populations. Today’s WatchBlog looks at our third report on the implementation of the CARES Act and other... 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