Fraud and Abuse of LIHEAP Funds

 HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced today that she was "disturbed" by an upcoming report that will highlight some "fraud and abuse" to which LIHEAP is vulnerable. The content of the news release implies that the use of Social Security Numbers to "verify the identity of applicants" seems to be a part of that fraud and abuse. To address these issues, she's will be encouraging state LIHEAP programs to add "mechanisms they will use to prevent wast, fraud and abuse" to their plans for the approaching fiscal year.

This means a few things to me. First, data standards, data integrity, and data practices relevant to LIHEAP will be likely to change in the coming year. Fortunately, reporting upgrades in ClientTrack happen very quickly, and at no extra cost to our clients.

Second, organizations need good security practices around how they administer various programs, such as LIHEAP. What this means to me is that organizations need to be able to restrict access to certain types of data, but also need to be able to ensure that the information they are collecting is complete and as accurate as possible. Fortunately, reducing data duplication and requiring collection of specified data elements is also a part of ClientTrack.

All in all, I agree with Secretary Sebelius: we need to do what we can to prevent fraud and abuse. And, a critical part of that which she failed to mention is the role that good technology can play in that process.