Government Influencer Series

With hundreds of billions in government aid flowing across America, criminals are capitalizing on the confusion and volume to perpetrate an unprecedented scale of fraud – and take money from those who need it most. The U.S. Department of Labor is funding $100 million for state efforts to combat this fraud and recover improper payments. How can states ensure this critical aid ends up in the right hands?

Topics discussed include:

• How COVID-19 has upped the game for criminals and those dedicated to stopping them
• How technology and public-private partnerships play a big role in detecting and investigating these crimes
• How this new funding effort by the DOL can turn the tide
• What the future may look like post-pandemic

To date, the U.S. Government has enacted four relief laws and appropriated a total of $2.6 trillion to address the public health and economic threats caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. And more stimulus legislation is likely.  Under the CARES Act enacted in March 2020, a provision requests that the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) prepare bimonthly reports on its ongoing monitoring and oversight efforts related to six programs comprising 86% of the total appropriations. After its first review of data and documents from federal agencies, on June 25, the GAO released its first report entitled COVID-19: Opportunities to Improve Federal Response and Recovery Efforts.

In our first forum of the Government Influencers Series, we will speak to A. Nicole (Nikki) Clowers, Managing Director of the GAO’s Health Care team, who is leading the GAO’s work under the CARES Act.  Our conversation with Ms. Clowers will review the challenges her team faces under their new mandate, the team’s efforts to ensure federal assistance can be provided more effectively, and the best fraud risk management strategies to ensure that assistance reaches Americans most in need.