It may seem ironic, but government agencies at all levels wrestle with the difficulty of compliance with regulatory requirements even as they issue regulations for others (sometimes including themselves) to meet. For example, just as the healthcare industry follows HIPAA, so too do Veterans Administration hospitals – along with all federal, state, local, tribal and territorial health organizations. Then there are government-only policies...

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) serves as the internal watchdog for all federal departments and agencies. The 75 inspectors general are broadly responsible for preventing and detecting fraud, waste, abuse, misconduct, and mismanagement in their domains, and promoting economy, efficiency, and effectiveness in operations and programs. The Department of Health and Human Services OIG, for instance, employs more than 1,600 public servants to...