This report updates our oversight of federal actions to support public health, individuals, and the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings include: There have been shortages of personal protective equipment and testing supplies because very few of them are made in the U.S. and global demand for them is highHHS may be able to collect more complete data on COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, a...

The catastrophic destruction caused by Hurricanes Irma and Maria overwhelmed the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rican governments and resulted in a large federal disaster response. The Department of Health and Human Services led federal public health and medical services efforts. Among other things, it provided medical personnel and facilities and evacuated critical care and dialysis patients. W...

In 2017, 3 hurricanes struck Florida, Texas, and Puerto Rico, causing severe damage and deaths. States and territories are responsible for identifying disaster-related deaths. Initially, Puerto Rico had reported 65 deaths directly related to Hurricane Maria, but later revised the official count to 2,975. Puerto Rico officials said damaged roads, power outages, and shortages of medical examiner s...

The Small Business Administration (SBA) has established lending standards to protect against default and has measured program performance, but lacks guidance on determining the number of jobs supported by 504 program-funded projects. SBA's guidance for certified development companies (CDC)—nonprofits that provide funding to small businesses to promote local economic development in their communit...

An annual average of 6.2 percent of noninstitutionalized children in Medicaid nationwide and 4.8 percent of privately insured children took one or more psychotropic medications, according to GAO's analysis of 2007-2009 data from the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). MEPS data also showed that children in Medicaid took antipsychotic medications...

For fiscal years 2010 and 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) allocated funds from the Prevention and Public Health Fund (PPHF) for 43 activities in five agencies. These activities—which include HHS programs and initiatives—were administered by HHS’s Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Health Resour...

Voluntary agencies consider various factors when determining where refugees will be placed, but few agencies we visited consulted relevant local stakeholders, which posed challenges for service providers. When deciding how many refugees to place in each community, some voluntary agencies prioritize local agency capacity, such as staffing levels, while others emphasize community capacity, such as h...

The four Medicaid options for home- and community-based services (HCBS) included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) provide states with new incentives and flexibilities to help increase the availability of services for Medicaid beneficiaries. Two of the options were newly created by PPACA, and the other two were existing options amended by the law. Three of the options provi...

The Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) revised its New Access Point (NAP) competitive award process in fiscal year 2011 to increase the emphasis on the need for services in the applicant’s proposed service area, and on the three special populations—migrant and seasonal farmworkers, homeless people, and residents of publ...

The Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) relies on three main methods to oversee grantees’ compliance with the 19 key program requirements.Annual compliance reviews. HRSA project officers review available information, including that submitted by grantees, to determine whether the grantee is in compliance with each of the 19 pr...