HHS is committed to being a responsible steward of every dollar in the HHS budget. America's hard-working citizens deserve to know that the Department is spending the monies they are investing in a healthier and brighter future as carefully and productively as the dollars they spend in their own family budgets—with accountability for results, honest disclosure of potential conflicts of interest, no allowance for waste or abuse, and ensuring that the public trust is awarded only to those individuals, institutions, grantees, and service providers with the highest ethical standards.
HHS is therefore launching a Departmentwide program integrity initiative to ensure that every program and office in HHS prioritizes the identification of systemic vulnerabilities and opportunities for waste and exploitation, and implements heightened oversight. HHS will consult closely with OIG to help review plans across each part of the Department and create a first-time ever Secretary’s Council on Program Integrity.
The Council on Program Integrity will look at all areas within the Department - from Medicare and Medicaid, to Head Start and LIHEAP, to medical research and the public health grants - to conduct risk assessments of programs or operations most vulnerable to waste, fraud, or abuse; enhance existing program integrity initiatives or create new ones; share best program integrity practices throughout HHS; and measure the results of our efforts.