Congressman Bill Thomas (R-CA), Chairman, Subcommittee on Health of the Committee on Ways and Means, today announced that the Subcommittee will hold a hearing on the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Report on the Financial Statement Audit of the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA). The hearing will take place on Thursday, July 17, 1997, in the main Committee hearing room, 1100 Longworth House Office Building, beginning at 10:00 a.m. The Report will be released to the public at the time of the hearing.
In view of the limited time available to hear witnesses, oral testimony at this hearing will be from invited witnesses only. However, any individual or organization not scheduled for an oral appearance may submit a written statement for consideration by the Committee and for inclusion in the printed record of the hearing.
BACKGROUND:
The Office of the Inspector General of the HHS recently completed its first full-scale audit of the HCFA Medicare financial statements and accounting procedures, as required by the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 and the Government Management Reform Act of 1994. The audit found that HCFA has a 14 percent error rate in paying Medicare fee-for-service claims, amounting to $23 billion in net annual payments that were made improperly during fiscal year 1996.
The Inspector General, June Gibbs Brown, will testify at the hearing on her review of the first year audit of HCFA's financial statements. With expenditures of approximately $300 billion, assets of $175 billion and liabilities of $50 billion, HCFA is the largest component of HHS. Because of the high-risk nature of health insurance reimbursement, the Office of Inspector General undertook a comprehensive review of claim expenditures including medical records review. This is the first time that a statistically valid national error rate for fee-for-service claims has ever been developed.
In announcing the hearing, Chairman Thomas stated: "During the 104th Congress, the House conducted the first-ever financial and operational audit of the House of Representatives. We kept our word by auditing our books and developing programs to save money and improve efficiency. We need to make sure that HCFA is similarly accountable to the taxpayers. The Inspector General's audit shows that billions of dollars are being wasted every year by Medicare because of fraud, abuse, shoddy accounting practices, and improper payments. I believe the American people would benefit from a full public airing of the Inspector General's findings and hope we can work together to address these problems, as well as assuring Medicare beneficiaries and taxpayers that Medicare funds are being spent in the most prudent and cost-effective manner possible, in accordance with sound accounting principles."
FOCUS OF THE HEARING:
The hearing will examine the details of the Inspector General's audit, focusing on the magnitude and cause of the incorrect payments made by HCFA. It will also focus on the accounting and financial reporting problems uncovered by the Inspector General.
DETAILS FOR SUBMISSION OF WRITTEN COMMENTS:
Any person or organization wishing to submit a written statement for the printed record of the hearing should submit at least six (6) single-space legal-size copies of their statement, along with an IBM compatible 3.5-inch diskette in ASCII DOS Text format only, with their name, address, and hearing date noted on a label, by the close of business, Thursday, July 31, 1997, to A.L. Singleton, Chief of Staff, Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives, 1102 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515. If those filing written statements wish to have their statements distributed to the press and interested public at the hearing, they may deliver 200 additional copies for this purpose to the Subcommittee on Health office, room 1136 Longworth House Office Building, at least one hour before the hearing begins.
FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS:
Each statement presented for printing to the Committee by a witness, any written statement or exhibit submitted for the printed record or any written comments in response to a request for written comments must conform to the guidelines listed below. Any statement or exhibit not in compliance with these guidelines will not be printed, but will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.
1. All statements and any accompanying exhibits for printing must be typed in single space on legal-size paper and may not exceed a total of 10 pages including attachments. At the same time written statements are submitted to the Committee, witnesses are now requested to submit their statements on an IBM compatible 3.5-inch diskette in ASCII DOS Text format.
2. Copies of whole documents submitted as exhibit material will not be accepted for printing. Instead, exhibit material should be referenced and quoted or paraphrased. All exhibit material not meeting these specifications will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.
3. A witness appearing at a public hearing, or submitting a statement for the record of a public hearing, or submitting written comments in response to a published request for comments by the Committee, must include on his statement or submission a list of all clients, persons, or organizations on whose behalf the witness appears.
4. A supplemental sheet must accompany each statement listing the name, full address, a telephone number where the witness or the designated representative may be reached and a topical outline or summary of the comments and recommendations in the full statement. This supplemental sheet will not be included in the printed record.
The above restrictions and limitations apply only to material being submitted for printing. Statements and exhibits or supplementary material submitted solely for distribution to the Members, the press and the public during the course of a public hearing may be submitted in other forms.
The
Committee seeks to make its facilities accessible to persons with
disabilities. If you are in need of special accommodations, please
call 202-225-1721 or 202-226-3411 TTD/TTY in advance of the event
(four business days notice is requested). Questions with regard to
special accommodation needs in general (including availability of
Committee materials in alternative formats) may be directed to the
Committee as noted above.