U.S. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS: VA, Department of Treasury Advance in Partnership to Strengthen Prevention of Fraud, Waste and Abuse

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs issued the following announcement on Feb. 9.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced that it has formed a partnership with the U.S. Department of Treasury to develop new and innovative tools to combat fraud, waste and abuse, efforts that will help VA understand and address program risks and create shared solutions for other federal agencies.

“The VA-Treasury partnership demonstrates VA’s commitment to identifying new and innovative ways to seek out fraud, waste and abuse, and ensure every tax dollar given to VA supports Veterans,” said VA Secretary Dr. David J. Shulkin. “VA’s vast array of programs supporting our critical mission to serve Veterans make the department the ideal choice for this partnership, and will ensure far-reaching outcomes that can be applied by other agencies.”

In 2017, VA was selected among all federal agencies to partner with U.S. Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Fiscal Service's Office of Financial Innovation and Transformation (FIT) in an initiative to conduct pilot projects jointly for combating fraud, waste and abuse.

The projects, which have been underway since October 2017 and are set to be completed by spring 2018, concentrate on the following: identifying where and how VA can learn from industry leaders and bridge gaps in payment processes; creating a comprehensive methodology for identifying fraud risks across VA programs; and building data models to identify potential fraud in one of VA’s most used Community Care programs. The next step will be for Treasury to produce a government-wide framework to assist other federal agencies in addressing fraud, waste and abuse.

“Since 2010, FIT has championed a number of innovations that have transformed federal financial management,” said John Hill, assistant commissioner for FIT at U.S. Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Fiscal Service. “Working side by side with VA will ensure that the government-wide framework will be based on practical experience to which other agencies can relate. It also is an opportunity to help serve the nation’s Veterans.”

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