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Office of Budget

Fiscal Year 2004 Performance and Accountability Report
Published November 15, 2004

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Improper Payments Information Act of 2002

(Summary of Implementation Efforts for FY 2004 and Agency Plans for FY 2005 through 2007)

Overview

VA identified 19 programs, totaling $58.214 billion, for review under the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 (IPIA). Two programs, Housing and Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment, were not able to be reviewed during the FY 2004 cycle. These programs will be reviewed during FY 2005. A risk assessment of all 19 VA programs was accomplished, but it was decided that statistical sampling would be performed on all programs.

The statistical samples revealed that 12 of the programs had estimated improper payments less than $10 million; thus, no report was required for these programs. The remaining five programs either had estimated improper payments exceeding $10 million or were programs previously identified in the former Section 57 of Office of Management and Budget Circular A-11. The five programs include Compensation, Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (which is reported as part of Compensation), Pension, Insurance, and Education. Further details are provided in Part IV.

Accomplishments

Because of the importance of all programs identified for review relative to the IPIA, VA designated a senior official to be responsible for implementing IPIA. VA's Assistant Secretary for Management (Chief Financial Officer) is the VA official responsible for establishing policies and procedures to assess VA program risks of improper payments, taking actions to reduce those payments, and reporting the results of those actions to VA management. Managers of all programs identified for review are aware of the importance of the IPIA. Seventeen of the 19 programs identified for review completed the required statistical sampling during 2004, in accordance with VA's IPIA plan. In addition, VA also used quality reviews to correct systemic problems, identified reports needed and training needs, piloted a prototype automated claims processing system, and identified accountability for the quality of claims processing.

Plans to Accomplish

Efforts are ongoing to rewrite regulations into clear and understandable language, develop an automated claims processing system for Education, consolidate pension workload processing, improve matching programs with other Government agencies, improve quality reviews to identify error trends and causes, and improve training programs for rating specialists. The goal is to reduce the amount of erroneous payments in all programs.