Protecting Public Health and Human Services Programs: A 30-Year Retrospective

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) at the Department
of Health and Human Services has issued Protecting Public
Health and Human Services Programs: A 30-Year
Retrospective [PDF].

From the report's Message from the Inspector General:

"In an unusual confluence of milestones, the year 2006
marked the 30th anniversary of the office’s creation in 1976,
the 20th anniversary of the enactment of the False Claims
Amendments Act of 1986, and the 10th anniversary of
the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.
These statutes are the legal and policy foundations upon which
much of OIG’s work is based. This triple anniversary
helpfully affords a framework for our narrative. We lay out the
initial establishment of the office; examine how its mission was
affected by major changes in the structure and size of HHS’s
programs; and address how the subsequent 1986 and 1996
laws transformed the way in which key initiatives were under-
taken to advance the statutory mission of the office to prevent
and detect fraud, waste, and abuse and promote the economy
and efficiency of HHS programs."

Hat tip to beSpacific (4/26/2007)