Audit of the Distribution of Supplies From Indian Health Service's National Supply Service Center in Response to COVID-19

COVID-19 has created unprecedented challenges for the U.S. hospital system, including Indian Health Service (IHS), Tribal, and Urban Indian Health Program (UIHP) facilities. American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 due to the relatively high rates of diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and asthma among these populations. These vulnerabilities can be heightened by the strong familial structures in AI/AN communities, in which families commonly live in multigenerational homes. Such socially cohesive communities provide a broad range of benefits to their members, but paradoxically these strong structures make it all the more difficult to maintain physical distancing during a pandemic.

IHS has received funding for medical supplies and equipment through the COVID-19 relief bills allocated to IHS, Tribal, and UIHP facilities. The objective of this audit is to determine whether IHS had adequate internal controls to ensure that medical supplies and equipment were effectively distributed to the National Supply Service Center's customers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Announced or Revised	Agency	Title	Component	Report Number(s)	Expected Issue Date (FY)
Completed	Indian Health Service	Audit of the Distribution of Supplies From Indian Health Service's National Supply Service Center in Response to COVID-19	Office of Audit Services	W-00-20-20026; A-07-20-04124	2023