IS IT TRUE we would like to share with you a new publication called FEDERAL FUMBLES–100 Ways The Government Dropped The Ball?  …this publication was created by United States Senator James Lankford form Oklahoma?  …you can Goggle it to read the entire publication?  …heres a few TID BITS from this publication that we thought you would enjoy?

PAID VACATION, FEDERAL STYLE

Leave it to the federal government to find a way to pay people who are not working. The federal government has made it a habit to place workers accused of misconduct on paid administrative leave for months or even years. Yes, years!

GAO released a report in fall 2014 to review the practices of five departments: DOD, VA, USAID, GSA, and DOI. GAO found these departments spent a combined $3.1 billion on workers who were placed on paid administrative leave from 2011 to 2013, 29 $775 million of which went toward the salaries of 57,000 employees who were off work for one month or longer.  This is money paid from taxpayers who actually work hard to earn their salaries.

That is a lot of money to waste on not promptly and efficiently handling employee issues. Primarily, workers are placed on leave because they are under investigation for misconduct. Other reasons include whistleblowing and disputes among employees. Even for a complicated case of workplace misconduct, a more efficient and clear process would reduce this extreme waste of time and resources.

Congress should support a clear process for agencies to handle employees who are accused of misconduct or who have been placed on administrative leave for any other reason. If someone receives a paycheck, he or she needs to actually show up for work.

It is not fair to employees to keep them in limbo for months or years, and it is definitely not fair to hard-working American taxpayers to make them foot the bill for agencies that are unable to handle employee issues.

WIND PRODUCTION TAX CREDIT

Even during the hottest part of summer and the coldest part of winter, many families still keep tight control of their home’s thermostat. Electric bills can be expensive and difficult to pay. In 1992 Congress created the Wind Production Tax Credit to kick-start the development of the relatively young wind energy production industry.

The credit has changed over the last 23 years, but it currently grants a tax credit of 2.3 cents per kilowatt-hour of energy produced for the first ten years a new wind farm is up and running. In terms of boosting a relatively young wind industry, the credit has wildly succeeded; wind generation capacity has grown more than 3,000 percent nationwide since it was first put into law.  As an example, wind now contributes almost 15 percent of the State of Oklahoma’s net power generation. Thirty-eight states have renewable energy portfolio standards, including wind, that are either mandatory or voluntary,  and some have financial incentives at the state level as well.

Wind efficiency is up dramatically. This quality energy resource is now fully viable and useful. Every time the credit is extended another year, taxpayers pony up more than $6 billion over ten years for an industry that is already profitable. With trillions in federal debt, this taxpayer money should be used to pay for highways, national defense, or deficit reduction.

There is no longer a need for a federal subsidy to kick-start wind development; after 23 years it is fully developed. Wind energy has a place in the diverse portfolio of many utilities, but the federal taxpayer should not determine that place. American families, who are already worried about their own bills, should not subsidize the wind as it comes sweepin’ down the plain. To protect the taxpayer,  US SENATOR James Lankford form Oklahoma has introduced S. 2158, the PTC Elimination Act, which would permanently eliminate this subsidy from the tax code.

FEDERAL DIETS

The American economy is powered in no small part by the thousands of trucks on the road each day. It is certainly important for individuals behind the wheel of giant wheelers to be healthy. But do taxpayers really need to spend more than $2.6 million on a trucker weight-loss intervention program?

From 2011 to 2015, NIH awarded Oregon Health & Science University a total of $2,658,929 to conduct a cell-phone-based program for a “weight loss competition” and “motivational interviewing.” The federal SHIFT program included an initial six-month weight-monitoring program followed by a 30- month follow-up study. The shocking conclusion reached in the 2009 report: individuals who completed motivational interviewing sessions and computer-based training were better able to make healthy living decisions. Those who engaged in the challenging six-month study were then given the chance to participate in a 30-month study.

This extended program was designed to determine whether those who successfully completed the six-month study could maintain a healthier lifestyle without additional motivation or training. Individuals who participated in the program and in the entry phone interview were given a $20 gift card. Participants were then asked to self-report their weight, food intake, and exercise activities over the phone.

Encouraging people to make healthier living decisions is definitely a good thing that should be done—by doctors, families, and friends, not the federal government and not at a price tag for American taxpayers of $2.6 million over four years.  NIH should have thought twice before funding programs when private funding of research studies is a better avenue. Congress, in consultation with NIH and other research institutes, can better assess areas of federal research.

CMS FILES SECRETIVE SETTLEMENT

Here is a story about federal inefficiency that also cost American families a lot of money and could ultimately result in higher costs and fewer providers. When Medicare and Medicaid patients go to a doctor or a hospital, a claim is filed and, if considered eligible for reimbursement, the bill is paid directly to that doctor or hospital. If the claim is denied for any reason, the hospital has the right to appeal. Here is where the problem starts: CMS has such a dysfunctional, disorganized, and backlogged system that it cannot properly process the appeals. So instead of taking the time to actually fix its system, CMS just agreed to partially pay all the hospitals who appeal an already denied claim.

In June 2015 CMS settled for $1.3 billion with 1,900 hospitals and paid 300,000 claims previously deemed “medically unnecessary,” which were already reviewed and denied twice.44 Most of these claims were related to short inpatient stays, which have long been a source of abuse and improper claims. But worst of all, CMS paid these settlements from the Medicare Trust Fund without telling anyone or asking permission.45 Those who rely on Medicaid and Medicare deserve CMS to be a good steward in administering the programs, and taxpayers deserve to know their hardearned dollars are spent appropriately. A major part of the problem is this: the system of auditing the providers has so many problems and mistakes that good providers are treated like criminals instead of public servants. When a provider is forced to prove innocence, enormous numbers of appeals and a huge backlog are created.

Congress should immediately investigate how CMS got to this point, why major changes were not made, and how a more than $1 billion settlement could be made without congressional approval. This cannot happen again. American families cannot afford it, and good healthcare providers should not have to endure it.

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