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Federal Employees Health Benefits Program: Additional Actions Needed to Address Significant Risks in Verifying Provider Eligibility
GAO-26-108139
Apr 29, 2026
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15 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Office of Personnel Management The Director of OPM should improve its control activities for identifying deceased or incarcerated providers. At a minimum, this should include OPM directing FEHB carriers to regularly obtain and use death information to identify deceased providers, prevent payments to deceased providers, and engage in related recovery efforts. This might also include OPM OIG comparing death and incarceration data from DNP with the claims data they receive, as we did. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Office of the Inspector General The OPM Inspector General should develop a monitoring mechanism to identify providers on LEIE with roles they do not consider for debarment that are submitting claims to FEHB carriers and suspend or debar them, as appropriate. (Recommendation 2)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Office of the Inspector General The OPM Inspector General should review the exclusions we identified on LEIE that are missing from its suspension and debarment list and (1) determine if the excluded providers should be included on its list; (2) investigate why they were not added from the LEIE files; and (3) update its suspension and debarment list with providers on LEIE in a timely manner, as appropriate. (Recommendation 3)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Office of the Inspector General The OPM Inspector General should update its guidance documentation about which roles from the Department of Health and Human Services OIG List of Excluded Individuals and Entities (LEIE) that OPM OIG considers for debarment to include all possible roles that appear on LEIE. (Recommendation 4)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Office of the Inspector General The OPM Inspector General should update its guidance documentation and its written procedures to clarify when OPM OIG must conduct additional research on providers on LEIE to determine if the provider meets the criteria for debarment. (Recommendation 5)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Office of Personnel Management The Director of OPM should obtain additional identifying information for providers, including providers' Tax Identification Number and National Provider Identifier. To the extent appropriate, the Director of OPM should coordinate this effort with the OPM Inspector General. (Recommendation 6)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

VA Health Care: Efforts to Assess Mental Health Support for Veteran Caregiver Program Need Strengthening
GAO-26-108070
Apr 16, 2026
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2 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Veterans Affairs The Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs should ensure the Under Secretary for Health implements key performance management practices to increase the awareness of the Caregiver Support Program by (1) establishing quantitative targets and time frames for all of its program goals, such as increasing the number of program inquiries, and (2) using these data to assess program performance and make adjustments as appropriate. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of Veterans Affairs The Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs should ensure the Under Secretary for Health implements key performance management practices to assess the mental health support offered by the Caregiver Support Program by (1) establishing goals with quantitative targets and time frames for all of the mental health support offered through the program, including referrals for mental health care provided at VA medical facilities; (2) collecting performance information to measure progress towards meeting these goals, and (3) using these data to assess program performance and make adjustments as appropriate. (Recommendation 2)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

FDA Advisory Committees: More Transparency Needed on Policies for Making Conflict of Interest Determinations
GAO-26-107877
Mar 24, 2026
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3 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Food and Drug Administration The Commissioner of FDA should establish a time frame for issuing and publicly sharing required guidance on how the agency determines financial conflicts of interest for advisory committee members. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Food and Drug Administration The Commissioner of FDA should post to the agency's advisory committee program website information on how FDA determines whether advisory committee members have financial conflicts of interest and how FDA determines whether they should participate in committee meetings. For example, FDA could post the information it is using to make these determinations while the required guidance is being updated. (Recommendation 2)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Food and Drug Administration The Commissioner of FDA should post to the agency's advisory committee program website information, such as a guidance document, on how FDA determines whether advisory committee guest speakers have financial conflicts of interest and appearance issues, and how FDA determines whether they should participate in committee meetings. (Recommendation 3)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Animal Drugs: Strengthening Federal Incentives Could Help Address Unmet Animal Health Needs
GAO-26-107896
Mar 03, 2026
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3 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Congress Congress should consider whether the statutory 5-year limit on conditional approval for animal drugs should be expanded to appropriately balance the goals of increasing drug availability to address unmet animal health needs, protecting animal and human health, and maintaining incentives for sponsors to develop drugs for markets with limited profitability, and should amend the statute as appropriate.
Open
When we confirm what actions Congress has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Food and Drug Administration The Commissioner of FDA should incorporate a benefit-risk assessment into its process for evaluating whether animal drugs that use alternative study designs have demonstrated substantial evidence of effectiveness. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Food and Drug Administration The Commissioner of FDA should develop guidance for industry on its use of benefit-risk assessments in its regulatory decisions for animal drugs that demonstrate substantial evidence of effectiveness using alternative study designs. (Recommendation 2)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
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