| Detailed Objective: This study identifies and evaluates existing tools used by State or local agencies
to detect fraud and abuse among staff or participants in the Special Supplemental
Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Identification and evaluation
of these tools are necessary to determine the best practices to prevent fraud.
Emphasis will be placed on the manner in which existing survey data of WIC agencies,
collected through General Accounting Office and Food and Nutrition Service surveys,
can be used to achieve the objectives of the study.
Some tools presently in use to indicate possible fraud among staff and participants
include a high number of multiple births enrolled; an abnormal ratio of infants
to children enrolled in a clinic; an unusual decrease in participant no-show
rates; or a rapid increase in voucher redemption rates. Possible new tools will
be identified, evaluated, and proposed. Determination of existing or new tools
as best practices is dependent on factors including, but not limited to, the
geographic location of WIC offices, number of participants in the WIC program,
and resources available to implement fraud-prevention methods. Possible new
tools will be proposed with the recognition that existing or new tools deemed
as best practices will vary among WIC agencies. Once identified, best practices
to prevent staff and participant fraud would be made available to all State
and local agencies to help manage their WIC programs. A fixed-price contract
was awarded to Applied Techno-Management Systems, Inc., for $225,550 in fiscal
1999. The project is expected to be completed by March, 2001. |