Recovery auditing is the practice of identifying and recovering overpayments that examines payment file information to identify possible duplicate or erroneous payments.

A separate analysis, by two Treasury Department specialists, says subsequent measures may have reduced these erroneous payments by $2 billion.

Recovery auditing is a financial best practice recognized by leading organizations worldwide for reducing clients' erroneous payments, improving their processes, and enhancing their performance.

"Upon verification of the death, we will take prompt action to stop any erroneous payment and to resolve any overpayment that would develop," the department said.

The inspector general gave several examples of erroneous payments.

Outdated computer systems were unable to detect erroneous payments, she said.

Using this information, the Office of Management and Budget will work with agencies to establish goals to reduce erroneous payments for each program.

As regards structural measures, further erroneous payments were discovered, caused by deficiencies in the control systems and in the Member States' declarations of expenditure.

A large proportion of these erroneous payments could have been prevented by the Member States.

The government also recorded at least $33 billion in erroneous payments last year, like improper Medicare payments of $12.1 billion.