Bismarck Tribune - Bismarck News - GAO: Indian health agency lost millions in goods

GAO: Indian health agency lost millions in goods

Jul 22, 2008 - 05:22:19 CDT

By MARY CLARE JALONICK/Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The Indian Health Service has lost at least $15.8 million worth of equipment and later falsified documents to cover up some of those losses, according to congressional investigators.

The 5,000 pieces of lost or stolen equipment included a computer that contained more than 800 Social Security numbers and sensitive health information. Also missing are trucks, tractors, all-terrain vehicles and about a third of information technology items - including computers, video projectors and digital cameras - from the agency's headquarters in Rockville, Md.

The Government Accountability Office estimated losses between the 2004 and 2007 budget years in a report released Monday. Investigators blamed mismanagement at the top of the embattled agency, which often runs out of money to provide adequate health care to the American Indians it serves.

"IHS management has failed to establish a strong 'tone at the top,' allowing property management problems to continue for more than a decade with little or no improvement or accountability for lost and stolen property and compromise of sensitive personal data," investigators wrote.

In an official response to the report, Health and Human Services officials agreed with many of the investigators' recommendations to tighten property oversight and regulations. But the officials also disagreed with some of the allegations, saying there were inaccuracies in the investigators' descriptions of some cases.

The department added that the study failed to appreciate that IHS has a unique property management system compared to other agencies because of the collaboration with Indian tribes.

The GAO said the agency, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, "made a concerted effort" to obstruct the investigators' work, including misrepresentations of data and fabricated documents.

In one case, a person identified in the report as the IHS director responsible for property claimed the agency was able to find about 800 items thought to be missing. Investigators later found this wasn't true. In another case, a property specialist acknowledged he fabricated documents saying hundreds of items were not missing and were properly disposed of.

Included in the missing items is a desktop computer that was stolen in April 2007 from an IHS hospital in New Mexico. The computer contained a database of names of 849 uranium miners, including their Social Security numbers and medical history.

North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan, chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, said his panel has scheduled a hearing on the issue next week.

"It's disgusting what's happening at the Indian Health Service," Dorgan said. "We can't continue to allow this. We have people dying because they can't get health care, and then we get a report like this."

The report also slaps the agency for wasteful spending. According to the GAO, there are three computers for every one employee at IHS headquarters. The investigation also found that computers and other technology equipment were often assigned to vacant offices.

The agency has not properly implemented proper safeguards to protect their equipment, investigators said. As an example, the report noted that $700,000 in equipment was disposed of because it was "infested with bat dung."

The report was requested by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.V., chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, after a whistleblower - identified in the report as a "cognizant property official" - called the GAO's fraud hotline.

That official alleged that IHS headquarters could not locate almost 2,000 pieces of equipment worth more than $1.8 million, including computers and other potentially sensitive information. The official also said IHS employees were writing off millions of dollars of equipment without holding anyone financially liable.

Investigators identified the lost and stolen property by reviewing agency documents and by conducting their own surveys at individual offices. GAO said the numbers of missing items and their total value is probably much higher.

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Comments

Tommy wrote on Jul 29, 2008 2:28 PM:

" anybody read about the sheriff in rollette county getting fired and also under investigation... par for the course "

Silly Me wrote on Jul 28, 2008 2:35 PM:

" Why did Indian Health Care have Tractors and All-Terrain Vehicles?
Silly me, I thought medical people needed medicines and x-ray machines. "

HBIC wrote on Jul 28, 2008 11:53 AM:

" I would just take a trip to my local pawn shop in order to recover some of the "lost goods". "

nonsense wrote on Jul 28, 2008 9:49 AM:

" Stop funding it if someone gets a hold of my social security number I won't have any funds to pay tax dollars or anything. I'd be looking at identity theft. how could this ever happen "

what I think wrote on Jul 27, 2008 2:56 PM:

" Take the tax dollars out of it. Mine and Yours. Your post describes a broken corrupt system that is working against it's own people. Native American are hurting Native Americans and that keeps the broken system going forward. Stop funding it, find another way for Native Americans to prosper. the reservation system is broken and in your words will not change. "

what I think wrote on Jul 27, 2008 12:06 PM:

" Is this your personal experience or are you from the outside looking in. There are many of us enrolled members who are tired of watching our council make bad decisions for us. and you sit there and talk about how your tired of paying taxes. pleeease!. Don't even start your not gonna win. In order for me to go on the reservation and get a job i have know this person and be related to that person which is not right. It's not about how much I know or what my grade point average was at the university none of that. But that is what i'm sick and tired of. Things like this will never change so save your typing fingers for your well taxing paying jobs. "

what I think wrote on Jul 26, 2008 5:04 PM:

" reservations are not working. native americans don't like living on them, the conditions are sub standard and tax payers are tired of wasting money on them. shut it down. that would put a stop to these issues and many more "

MT Rez wrote on Jul 24, 2008 12:29 PM:

" I have lived most of my life working and living on my reservation in MT. I now work on a reservation in ND in Mental Health. Most of what I see in these comments are purely ignorance and bigotry! Those of you that believe that things are not as bad on the reservation...go to an IHS hospital and try to receive health care. Go the the reservation and try to obtain employment. These overgeneralized, and quite frankly racist comments are what causes the most damage. We have plenty of hard working people. What would you feel if I expressed that "all Germans are Nazis?" It is the same thing. "

arly wrote on Jul 22, 2008 8:25 PM:

" What dead people is Dorky talking about? Where's the news coverage on all of the deaths? This is just another lame attempt to spin the National Health Plan that these liberals are trying to force on us. Using this issue to attempt to push the liberal agenda instead of addressing this very problem. YO YO, you would wait for another 6 months before you would see a dentist on the National Health Plan. It is socialized medicine that does not work. Anything the government gets into does not work!!! People need to start looking into these things and not believe everything they read in newspapers or hear on the big three news casts every evening. "

Bono wrote on Jul 22, 2008 6:13 PM:

" To Yikes - call the chief. "

spirit wrote on Jul 22, 2008 5:43 PM:

" I thought natives were spiritual people? "

jim wrote on Jul 22, 2008 3:07 PM:

" well, byron will get to the "bottom" of it. "

YIKES wrote on Jul 22, 2008 2:54 PM:

" I'm one of thousands of indigenous people who has charts with sensitive health information. My question is what is the HEPA law going to do about this?? Time for a class action suit against the governement. How about our social security numbers what happens if we get targeted with identity theft. WHO ARE WE GONNA CALL? "

CityNative wrote on Jul 22, 2008 12:25 PM:

" Please. . . this is just the tip of the iceberg. There is outrageous mismanagement going on in Indian country. This mismanagement was discovered with an agency that is government regulated like IHS. It is even worse when it comes to Tribally ran organizations that don't have as tight government regulations due to their "sovereign" powers. Hate to see what wold happen if the Tribes were forced to be more accountable to what they are doing. Either way, Natives are suffering. They suffer now because of mismanagement and they will suffer if they lose their government support. "

yo yo wrote on Jul 22, 2008 11:51 AM:

" I have to wait 6 months for dental also and thats in Bismarck. Woopdeedoo "

littlemamma wrote on Jul 22, 2008 10:50 AM:

" Jackson- you are funny, ok for one, Im a native american, I do not get "money/goods " from our government, I am a fulltime worker as well as most others. I dont recieve " welfare"foodstamps"medicade"and program assistance as some americans, I work and struggle like most americans. But as some americans believe most natives get free stuff, well sorry but not all true, we have to pay for what we want as well. and for health care that is a sorry sight, Did you know that we get interns for doctors, yes, and do you know there is a 6-8 month waiting list for dental. fyi. "

Razors Edge wrote on Jul 22, 2008 10:29 AM:

" Ok this stuff just doesn't happen over night, and everyone knows it's been going on forever. Where have you been Dorgan? Don't you oversee this kind of thing? Or are you too busy bailing out Countrywide?

In the private sector if even one computer goes missing it is a big deal. If you cover it up and get caught then you are probably fired, and the company can be fined. If SSN get out then usually the company has to provide free credit services for a year. This is just another example why you don't let the government do this. They have no oversight or accountability. "

surprise wrote on Jul 22, 2008 9:11 AM:

" does this really surprise anyone? "

Bob wrote on Jul 22, 2008 9:08 AM:

" IHS is a joke, another corrupt Indian Agency. "

Jackson wrote on Jul 22, 2008 8:23 AM:

" As long as the US government gives the American Indians and/or tribes any money or goods then the US government has the right to do what they need to do on the indain reservations at any time. The Amercian people are getting tired of the indians and/or tribes saying they are their own nation. If this is true the US government should stop all money and goods given to them. "

arlo wrote on Jul 22, 2008 8:13 AM:

" Some things never change. "

Indepedent Conservative wrote on Jul 22, 2008 7:31 AM:

" And some want to nationalize my health care? No way! Government-ran or not, the American Indian population deserves better than this. "

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