The administration is making a renewed effort at cutting back improper payments, with the Office of Management and Budget launching four new pilot projects aim to stem the tide of wasteful spending.
OMB Director Jack Lew announced the programs in a posting this week on the OMB blog. Last year, the government disbursed $125 million in improper payments for a host of reasons.
Lew expressed optimism for the projects, which are part of a larger program to help state and local governments save taxpayer dollars.
“These pilot investments could lead to at least $100 million in annual savings if the pilots are successfully scaled up and will provide hard data about how federal agencies as well as states and localities can save money and significantly improve program integrity, service delivery and efficiency,†Lew wrote.
- The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services — States will share a Medicaid provider-enrollment system to better detect and prevent provider fraud
- The Labor Department will lead a project to reduce unemployment overpayments by helping states access new data sources to more quickly identify beneficiaries who are most likely to be newly employed.
- The Food and Nutrition Service at the Department of Agriculture will help states share benefits information, which could reduce duplicate payments.
- The Treasury Department will test how it can apply its debt collection systems to help states collect outstanding debt
