ABANDONED INFANTS ASSISTANCE ACT

Question. The Abandoned Infants Assistance Act requires that the Secretary of Health and Human Services conduct a study to determine how many infants and young children are abandoned each year. When will this study be undertaken?

Answer. We expect to have this study implemented by July 1, 1990, and we should have a final report available to Congress by

April 1, 1991.

YOUTH GANG DRUG PREVENTION ACTIVITIES

Question. Youth gang drug abuse prevention activities are provided by a number of agencies and programs that serve young people, such as schools, the juvenile justice system, employment agencies, and other social service providers. What type of coordination exists among these various agencies and programs?

Answer. The coordination and collaboration of the above listed agencies and others (i.e., police departments, housing authorities, voluntary youth-serving agencies, and neighborhood organizations) is the focal point of the Youth Gang Drug Prevention Program. Sixteen community-based consortia grants, totaling over $10 million, were awarded in FY 1989 to formalize and structure collaboration between these groups so that comprehensive services and supports would be available to at-risk youth. Each grantee has a mix of organizations, and a specific work plan which supports and coordinates with the work of the other members of the consortia. In most instances, case management procedures are being used to oversee the services that are received by youth coming in contact with any of the member agencies.

Similar, yet less formal, collaborations are occurring in another 36 youth gang grants funded by the Administration for Children, Youth and Families during fiscal year 1989. Many of these grants were also made to the types of agencies and programs described above.

YOUTH GANG DRUG/EVALUATION PLANS

Question. What types of evaluations are being carried out on the Youth Gang Drug Abuse Prevention Program to measure their effectiveness?

Answer. Each grantee has been required to implement its own evaluation plan. In addition, the Family and Youth Services Bureau will soon be awarding a two-year Impact Evaluation contract to assess the effectiveness of the gang projects. The particular focus of this evaluation will be the consortia projects, with a view to assessing the effectiveness of the formal collaborative approach in reducing at-risk youth involvement in gangs.

OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL

STATEMENT OF RICHARD P. KUSSEROW, INSPECTOR GENERAL

BUDGET REQUEST

Senator HARKIN. The next witness is Mr. Richard Kusserow, the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services. Mr. Kusserow has served since 1981 as inspector general for this Department. With his help last year we identified several areas where excess government spending could be reduced without impacting on the beneficiaries of health programs.

We introduced legislation to achieve some of the savings and have been able to cut some unnecessary spending further in the fiscal year 1990 Labor-HHS bill. But it is a new year and we are committed in doing even more and finding more inefficiencies if we can, wherever we can.

So, welcome back to the subcommittee, Mr. Kusserow. Again, let me compliment you and commend you on doing an outstanding job at the Department. I think that you have conducted the inspector general's office in a way that should set the standard for a lot of other departments.

We were talking about you the other day with the Labor Department.

Mr. KUSSEROW. I hope you are not suggesting that I go to Labor. [Laughter.]

Senator HARKIN. Well, we need somebody over there like you. We need somebody over there with the same kind of attitude and expertise that you have.

So, again, welcome. Your statement will be made a part of the record. Please, proceed.

SUMMARY STATEMENT

Mr. KUSSEROW. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will submit that for the record, and I will highlight a few points from our budget submission.

First of all, our budget proposal for fiscal year 1991 maintains the current 1990 FTE level of 1,415 FTE and requests and increase in obligations of only 1.1 percent. This increase would partially offset some of the mandatory cost increases that we will have because of pay raises, FERS, rent, and so forth. We will, in fact, absorb $1,570,000 in other built-in costs that have occurred over the last year.

You mentioned the Department of Labor. It is interesting to know that our Department's budget has been increasing on an annual basis more than the entire budget of the Department of Labor, or even HUD.

And yet those Departments' inspectors general have staffs of about 500 people that focus just on what our incremental increase is each year. That kind of puts things back into perspective.

In fiscal year 1989, we continued to have a payback on the money invested in our budget. It was about $66 for every dollar appropriated for us, and we are pleased that our cost effectiveness is continuing.

In 1988 when we came before this committee, we were very proud of the fact that we had fines, savings, restitutions, and recoveries of about $5.5 billion. We increased that for 1989 by $130 million, bringing total savings up to nearly $5.7 billion. We are pleased that we are still able to produce a good return for the invested dollar.

We have documented savings of about $4.25 million for each OIG FTE. This statistic also continues to improve.

This last year, we convicted in the U.S. district courts 1,278 individuals and entities nationwide who had committed fraud or abuse against our programs or beneficiaries.

In addition to that, as a result of a host of new sanction authorities that the last two Congresses have put into effect to protect beneficiaries against abuse of individuals or through the program, we had an 81-percent increase in the number of administrative and civil prosecutions of individuals who in fact behaved so badly as to warrant sanctions.

We have been able to increase our accomplishments because of the help we have received from the Congress. I would be remiss in not mentioning that a lot of the savings come about as a result of work by you, this committee, and the Congress as a whole. The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1989 resulted in savings of about $10 billion in the Medicare Program alone.

About $8.5 billion of that amount we contributed with our reports and efforts to provide the kind of information that allow policymakers, both in the executive branch as well as in the Congress, to begin to move to effect savings and to curtail the rate of increases in outlays in our programs.

Since our last appearance before you, Mr. Chairman, we have had a major midcourse correction in terms of our work plan and assignment of resources. Last year when I was before you, I discussed the major buildup in program dollars and issues to be faced in the Medicare Catastrophic Insurance Program. Although the catastrophic program has been repealed, we have a number of new issues that have come onto the scene.

First of all, we have seen Congress engage in physician reimbursement reform, which has created a lot more work for us. We have had the whole Medicare secondary payer issue really burgeon into a major problem, which we are now estimating to be in excess of $.5 billion of losses to the trust funds each year. We also have 16 different projects planned or underway to assess and implement the JOBS Program under the Family Support Act amendments. These are but two examples of new work underway which can now be accomplished with staff freed up from the repeal of the catastrophic program.

PREPARED STATEMENT

I do not want to use up my allotted time by simply recounting all of the activities we accomplished this last year or have planned for fiscal year 1990 and fiscal year 1991. I would prefer, Mr. Chairman, to reserve my time to answer questions that you might have about our budget or our program.

[The statement follows:]