GAO to investigate personnel changes at Health and Human Services
The General Accounting Office has agreed to study whether numerous recent changes in high-ranking personnel at the Health and Human Services Department's inspector general's office will hinder the office's ability to root out Medicare fraud.
Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., ranking member Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Aging Chairman John Breaux, D-La., requested the audit, saying they have received numerous tips about personnel changes in the office since Bush administration appointee Janet Rehnquist assumed control in August 2001.
"The whistleblowers say Rehnquist has mandated involuntary retirements and reassignments for career employees with stellar reputations for fighting fraud, waste, and abuse in federal healthcare programs, including several recipients of presidential awards," Grassley said in a statement Tuesday. "I can't overlook the loss of high-ranking government servants with decades of service who have performed their jobs well."
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