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                            Improper Payments
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                    Issue Summary
    Improper payments—payments that should not have been made or were made in the incorrect amount—have consistently been a government-wide issue despite efforts to identify their root causes and reduce them. In fact, the government still doesn’t fully understand the size of federal improper payments, partly because it doesn’t have complete, reliable, or accurate estimates.Federal agencies made an estimated $236 billion in improper payments in FY 2023, and cumulative federal improper payment estimates have totaled about $2.7 trillion since FY 2003. Approximately 79% of the FY 2023 total (about $186 billion) was reported by five program areas.**Programs with the Largest Percentage of Improper Payments for Fiscal Year 2023**Image
              improper_payments_2023However, the $236 billion total does not include estimates for certain risk-susceptible programs, such as the Department of Health and Human Services’ Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.There are a number of steps that Congress and federal agencies could take to help reduce federal improper payments and save taxpayer funds.For example:To better prepare for future emergencies like COVID-19, hurricanes, and wildfires, agencies could do more to manage the risk of payment errors in federal emergency assistance programs. For instance, they could identify and assess risks, design procedures to verify program eligibility, monitor their effectiveness, and get information on payment errors.Medicaid could improve oversight to ensure that claims aren’t paid to ineligible medical providers, including those who have suspended or revoked medical licenses.Many agencies were able to distribute funds quickly when the COVID-19 pandemic began, but the tradeoff was that they did not have systems in place to prevent and identify payment errors and fraud. Congress could help improve how federal funds are monitored to ensure that, in future emergencies, agencies can act quickly with proper payment safeguards in place.Congress could help agencies identify susceptible programs, develop reliable methods for estimating improper payments, and implement effective corrective actions.Some agencies have made progress reducing the number of such errors in their programs. For instance, some have improved the accountability of senior leaders for their programs. Others have used new technology to automate the payment process. Other agencies could use such techniques to reduce their own payment errors.

  Recent Reports
          Improper Payments: Information on Agencies' Fiscal Year 2023 EstimatesGAO-24-106927
      
	Published:  Mar 26, 2024


	Publicly Released: Mar 26, 2024
                        Improper Payments and Fraud: How They Are Related but DifferentGAO-24-106608
      
	Published:  Dec 07, 2023


	Publicly Released: Dec 07, 2023
                        Improper Payments: Opportunities for Interagency Collaboration and ImprovementsGAO-23-106761
      
	Published:  Sep 28, 2023


	Publicly Released: Sep 28, 2023
                        Improper Payments: Programs Reporting Reductions Had Taken Corrective Actions That Shared Common FeaturesGAO-23-106585
      
	Published:  Jun 30, 2023


	Publicly Released: Jun 30, 2023
                        Improper Payments: Fiscal Year 2022 Estimates and Opportunities for ImprovementGAO-23-106285
      
	Published:  Mar 29, 2023


	Publicly Released: Mar 29, 2023
                        Payment Integrity: Additional Coordination Is Needed for Assessing Risks in the Improper Payment Estimation Process for Advance Premium Tax CreditsGAO-23-105577
      
	Published:  Mar 09, 2023


	Publicly Released: Mar 09, 2023
GAO Contacts
    
      Hannah Padilla
      
              Hannah Padilla
            
            Director
      
            padillah@gao.gov
      
            (202) 512-5683
                                                      MultimediaPodcasts
    
      Federal Agencies' Estimates of FY 2019 Improper Payments
    Monday, March 02, 2020
      
            Transcript
          Data Challenges Contribute to Billions in Medicaid Improper Payments
    Monday, February 06, 2017
      
            Transcript
          Federal Response to COVID-19 Challenged by Ongoing Supply Shortages, Vaccine Distribution Delays
    Thursday, January 28, 2021
      
            Transcript
Pie chart showing where improper payments were made --Medicare, Medicaid, the Paycheck Protection Program, and federal Pandemic Unemployment comprised about 20% each. All other programs were under 20% total.
          Blog Post
              Federal Government Made $236 billion “Improper Payments” Last Fiscal Year
            Tuesday, March 26, 2024
      
            The federal government reported an estimated $236 billion in “improper payments” during the most...
          Pie chart showing $2.6 trillion in spending in response to COVID-19
          Blog Post
              GAO’s review of the federal response to COVID-19
            Thursday, June 25, 2020
      
            Facing unprecedented national public health and economic crises caused by the COVID-19 pandemic...
          Photo of two people exchanging $100 bills
          Blog Post
              Improper Payments on the Rise
            Wednesday, March 4, 2020
      
            Increasingly, the federal government is making payments it shouldn’t. Improper payments are when the...
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