March 11, 2010
Study suggests too many invasive heart tests given (AP)
AP - A troublingly high number of U.S. patients who are given angiograms to check for heart disease turn out not to have a significant problem, according to the latest study to suggest Americans get an excess of medical tests.
March 11, 2010
CDC uses shopper-card data to trace salmonella (AP)
AP - As they scrambled recently to trace the source of a salmonella outbreak that has sickened hundreds around the country, investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention successfully used a new tool for the first time — the shopp
March 10, 2010
India help for Sri Lanka amputees
An Indian charity sends a team to Sri Lanka to provide 1,000 amputees in the war-ravaged north with artificial limbs.
March 10, 2010
Sex drive 'lasts longer in men', research suggests
Men are likelier than women to enjoy sex in old age, researchers find.
Watchdog: Transportation stimulus money at risk
(AP)
| WASHINGTON – The Transportation Department is at risk of awarding economic stimulus aid to contractors who have defrauded the government, a government watchdog warned Wednesday. The department's inspector general, Calvin Scovel, issued an advisory that said the agency doesn't process or report in a timely manner those contractors who have been suspended or barred from participation in transportation programs because of fraud. Scovel said this creates the risk that transportation funds could go to ineligible contractors. The advisory said that includes the $48 billion in transportation-related economic stimulus money the department is trying to get quickly out the door, as well as money not part of the stimulus plan. The concerns arose during the inspector general's ongoing auditing of the department's suspension and debarment program, the advisory said. The audits identified "vulnerabilities that increase the risk that the department's (stimulus) funds will not be spent effectively," the advisory said. "The tight time frames and significant funds awarded under (the stimulus law) heighten this risk." Deputy Transportation Secretary Thomas Barrett noted that the audit didn't uncover any instance in which money had gone to a suspended or debarred contractor. He also said in a statement posted the department's Web site that steps have been taken to improve the reporting of ineligible contractors. Nevertheless, Barrett said, "we recognize a need for improvements in internal processes to ensure the success of this program." ___ On the Net: Transportation Department inspector general: http://www.oig.dot.gov |