August 15, 2014—The LIHEAP Clearinghouse has issued a report titled LIHEAP Program Integrity: States Make Progress on Documentation and Verification of Client Information. It examines the measures taken by states to enhance program integrity in the areas of documenting and verifying client identity and income.
Since a report published by the Government Accountability Office in 2010, the issues surrounding program integrity have remained front-and-center for LIHEAP grantees. Two of the most important issues are the extent to which grantees document and verify applicant identity and income levels to ensure only eligible households receive LIHEAP benefits.
This Clearinghouse report reviewed practices by the states in these two areas from Fiscal Year 2010 through Fiscal Year 2014 by reviewing their Program Integrity Assessments. The report compared this data to the guidance and recommendations provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services over the years.
Overall, the report finds that states have made significant strides in enhancing program integrity through measures that include more states requiring Social Security Numbers from applicants and checking applicant data against third-party databases.
Source: LIHEAP Clearinghouse
