DEVELOPING STANDARDS FOR PROGRAM INSPECTIONS

There is an activity called program inspections in the Office of Inspector General (OIG) at the Department of Health and Human Services that has been growing and maturing for the past 10 years. This activity, which has utilized concepts and techniques from evaluation, auditing, policy analysis, management consulting, and public opinion research, provides objective information to top level policy makers in a timely fashion. It does this through short-term studies (3-5 months) that result in clear and concise reports (10-20 pages, with a 3-page executive summary), and an occasional stand-up briefing for the policy makers. Program Inspections went through various alterations until 1985, when its current function and attendant organizational alignment were firmly established. At that time, a committee was formed to develop standards for this multidisciplinary function. This paper will review the standard-setting process in the Office of Analysis and Inspections, the component in OIG that produces inspection reports; discuss the decisions that we made in formulating our standards; and provide some lessons that we learned from our experience. © 1990.