FEDE Office of the Federal Register / National Archives and Records Administration · Rulemaking audits
Commerce Department, Industry and Security Bureau | Notice | This notice defines the pharmaceutical products and lists the jurisdictions that are eligible to receive an ad valorem tariff rate of zero pursuant to Presidential Proclamation 11020 of April 2, 2026, "Adjusting Imports of Pharmaceuticals and Pharmaceutical Ingredients Into the United States," (Proclamation 11020). These pharmaceutical products include drugs and associated ingredients where all approved indications are designated as orphan; nuclear medicines; plasma derived therapies; fertility drugs; cell therapy product; gene therapy product; antibody drug conjugates; medical countermeasures related to chemical, biological, radi.
CABI U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found Under the Controlled Substances Act, substances that pose a risk of abuse and dependence are placed in categories—referred to as schedules. To carry out certain scheduling actions, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is required to obtain a scheduling recommendation from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) based on a scientific and medical evaluation from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Evaluations and recommendations from HHS or DEA are not required for substances scheduled through legislation. Of the 208 substances for which DEA took scheduling actions from 2020 through 2025, DEA considered HHS evaluations and recommendations for all 95 substance.
FEDE U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found More than 9 million enrolled veterans are eligible to receive health care services through the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Veterans Health Administration (VHA) each year. Veterans who meet certain requirements (such as having a 100 percent service-connected disability or being former prisoners of war) are also eligible to receive VA dental benefits. According to VA, about 26 percent of VHA-enrolled veterans were eligible to receive dental benefits as of February 2026. According to VHA data, the number of veterans eligible for VA dental benefits increased from fiscal years 2020 through 2025, resulting in an overall increase of approximately 70 percent from fiscal year.
FEDE U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found As part of the federal government’s efforts to support Tribes and tribal members’ health and to help prevent disease, an Indian Health Service (IHS) program provides Tribes with technical and financial assistance to build drinking water and wastewater infrastructure in tribal communities. Through this program, IHS staff work closely with Tribes to identify their needs and design and build water projects. Several U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs also provide assistance for tribal water projects, and the three agencies often work together and with Tribes. Selected Agencies’ Funding for Tribal Water Projects, Fiscal Ye.
FEDE U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found Many countries, including the U.S., are experiencing an increase in both the number and the proportion of older adults in their populations. According to the World Health Organization, the share of the global population aged 60 and over is expected to more than double from one billion in 2020 to 2.1 billion by 2050. As countries experiencing population aging take steps to address the domestic effects, experts told GAO that global population aging may also affect the U.S. GAO identified three broad U.S. foreign policy interests that may be affected by aging abroad: national security, economic competitiveness, and global health and humanitarian assistance (see figure). Effects..
CABI U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) administers the Third Party Review Program, a voluntary alternative review process for selected low-to-moderate risk medical devices, such as diagnostic ultrasound systems and surgical lasers. Under this program, which is intended to facilitate faster reviews, device sponsors can contract with FDA-accredited entities. These entities, known as Third Party Review Organizations (third parties), conduct the initial review of certain premarket applications, known as 510(k) submissions. These third party reviews occur prior to agency officials making the final decision about whether the devic.
FEDE Office of the Federal Register / National Archives and Records Administration · Rulemaking audits
Defense Department | Notice | This serves as notice of the adoption of a STRL PDP plan and additional flexibilities by the DHA R&D, a DoD (referred to herein as "DoW") STRL. The DHA R&D is an STRL composed of medical research organizations that were formerly components of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC), a successor to the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC). The DHA R&D will adopt the PDP plan of the USAMRDC at the Federal Register issue of March 3, 1998, with some modifications. In addition, the DHA R&D proposes to adopt certain personnel flexibilities available to all DoW STRLs.
FEDE U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (988 Lifeline) is managed on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) by a network administrator who oversees the day-to-day operations and ensures that the nearly 220 local crisis contact centers are compliant with the organization’s cybersecurity requirements. HHS partially implemented oversight activities related to cybersecurity for the 988 Lifeline. Specifically, HHS defined oversight roles and responsibilities to monitor cybersecurity control implementation. However, HHS did not include all key HHS-defined cybersecurity control areas in the 988 Lifeline cooperative agreement with its network administrator or for the.
FEDE Office of the Federal Register / National Archives and Records Administration · Rulemaking audits
Personnel Management Office | Proposed Rule | This request for information (RFI) seeks public input on how to optimize health benefits plan options offered in the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program, which includes the Postal Service Health Benefits (PSHB) Program, to give enrollees high value choices at competitive costs while ensuring the appropriate number and distribution of options are available to enrollees. Currently, health benefits plans in the FEHB Program are limited to offering three options or two options and a high-deductible health plan (HDHP) pursuant to 5 CFR 890.201(b)(3)(i). The information gathered through this RFI will inform the Office of Personnel Managem.
FEDE U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found Under federal law, insurance plans offered in health insurance exchanges—known as qualified health plans (QHP)—may cover abortion services consistent with federal and state laws. Based on federal law applicable in 2026, QHPs are prohibited from using federal funds, such as income-based tax credits, to help pay for abortion services except where the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest, or the life of the pregnant woman would be endangered unless an abortion is performed. GAO refers to services that do not meet that exception as “non-excepted abortion services.” In 2026, federal data show 26 percent of QHPs (1,719 of 6,655) in the 50 states and District of Columbia covere.
FEDE U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found During the rulemaking process, agencies are generally required to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) and seek public comment before issuing a final rule. They can expedite the process and forgo this requirement when they find good cause that the process would be impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest. This can occur, for example, when agencies are responding to natural disasters or public health emergencies. Agencies cited good cause reasons for expedited rulemaking for about 71 percent of major interim final rules GAO reviewed and that agencies published between January 20, 2013, and January 20, 2025. This is consistent with GAO’s 2012 repor.
FEDE U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found After three unsuccessful attempts over two decades, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) undertook a fourth effort in 2017—the Electronic Health Record Modernization (EHRM) program—to modernize its legacy health information system. GAO has previously reported on the challenges VA has experienced with this effort. In these reports, GAO made 18 recommendations to improve cost estimating, schedule, program management, user adoption and satisfaction, and operational testing. GAO deemed 12 of these as priority recommendations because of their criticality to successful future deployments. As of August 2026, VA has not yet fully implemented 14 of the 18 recommendations. Implement.
