{"id":23238,"date":"2017-08-16T14:50:09","date_gmt":"2017-08-16T14:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2017\/08\/16\/improper-payments-time-for-new-approaches-commentary\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T05:00:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T05:00:19","slug":"improper-payments-time-for-new-approaches-commentary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/opinions\/2017\/08\/16\/improper-payments-time-for-new-approaches-commentary\/","title":{"rendered":"Improper payments: Time for new approaches [Commentary]"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Each year, the federal government makes more than $3 trillion in payments, most of which are proper. However, since 2002, agencies estimate they have made more than $1.2 trillion ($144 billion in FY 2016 alone) in improper payments due to error or fraud. By comparison, the entire federal government\u2019s FY 2016 R&D budget was $145 billion \u2014 almost the same as that year\u2019s improper payments estimate. These needless expenditures restrict spending options, add to the federal debt, enrich criminals, siphon off funds needed to serve the interests of the American public, and undermine public confidence in government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data analytics can prevent and identify fraud and other improper payments through an array of tools and data sets. Federal agencies such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services\u2019 (CMS) Fraud Prevention System and the Department of Labor\u2019s Unemployment Insurance Integrity Center of Excellence have used analytic efforts to combat improper payments. In recent years, Congress focused attention on data analytics in the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Improvement Act of 2012 (P.L. 112-248) with the establishment of the Do Not Pay Initiative, and in the Fraud Reduction and Data Analytics Act of 2015 (P.L. 114-186) with the requirement for a federal interagency library of data analytics and data sets. However, agencies all too often use data analytics to identify problems that have already occurred and to facilitate improper payment reporting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further, agencies frequently work in isolation to address their improper payments problems. They often lack readily available frameworks to facilitate ongoing communication and information sharing to combat common or systemic improper payment problems caused by such things as the use of fraudulent identities or the failure to provide valid, timely eligibility information. To complicate matters, legislative mandates or prohibitions sometimes produce unintended consequences that create the potential for improper payments or make it more difficult to prevent or detect them. For example, complicated eligibility rules can increase the potential for errors and can create \u201cloopholes\u201d that make it easier to commit fraud. In the end, agencies too often find themselves making payments, identifying improper ones afterwards, and then trying to recoup the funds \u2014 the fundamentally flawed model called \u201cpay & chase.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February 2016, The MITRE Corporation, a not-for-profit company that operates federally funded research and development centers, presented the results of an independent, internally funded study of government-wide payment integrity. MITRE recommended a more comprehensive approach to address the problem. The concept would include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n