The Red Book: Cost-Saver Handbook (2004)

The Red Book is a compendium of significant Office of Inspector General (OIG) cost saving recommendations that have not been fully implemented. These recommendations may require one of three types of actions: legislative, regulatory, or procedural (such as manual revisions). Some complex issues involve two or all three types of actions. The Inspector General Act requires that the OIG's semiannual reports to the Congress include "an identification of each significant recommendation described in previous semiannual reports on which corrective action has not been completed." Thus, appendices to each semiannual report list significant unimplemented recommendations. Because of the abbreviated nature of that list, however, we prepare the Red Book to further highlight the potentially significant impact of cost-saving recommendations. The savings estimates indicated for these unimplemented recommendations are updated from time to time to reflect more current information as it becomes available. The estimates have varying levels of precision. Full implementation of the recommendations in the 2004 edition of the Red Book could produce substantial savings to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). We hope that this edition will prove useful to departmental decision-makers, the administration, and the Congress in their continuing efforts to contain costs and improve program efficiency at HHS.

---