Some Problems with New Dental Anesthesia Requirements Surface
A dentist recently contacted TDMR with a problem that his practice, a group practice, has come across with the new requirements for placing Medicaid children under general anesthesia. Difficulty with multiple dentists doing treatment He wrote: The new general anesthesia requirements are nearly impossible for a group practice with multiple dentists doing exams and different doctors doing treatment. They are looking for one signature that must do treatment. If a doctor is not working that day, the patient must be canceled and scheduled for a different day. This is tricky when you are scheduling anesthesiologists, patients, and doctors with a population that no-shows 25% of the time and cannot be sick to be treated. Also, some doctors never work certain days, but work other days. It … Read More...
HHSC Inspector General Office Finds Former Inspector General Doug Wilson’s Wife in Conflict of Interest
In a blast from the past, former Health and Human Services Inspector General Doug Wilson and his wife are in the news again. Resigned on Friday Frianita Wilson resigned last Friday from Child Protective Services after her husband's former agency concluded that she had been involved in a conflict of interest over contracts she managed with a non-profit that had hired her husband. The … [Read More...]
Texas Has Spent Over 50,000 Lawyer Hours So Far on Xerox Case
Back in October 2015, TDMR filed an open records request with the Office of the Attorney General seeking to find out how much legal manpower had been used to pursue questionable Medicaid cases against Texas dentists involved in the multi-million dollar Xerox orthodontic prior authorization debacle that had consumed Texas for several years. At that time, newly minted Inspector General Stuart Bowen … [Read More...]
TDMR Founder Awarded SBA 2017 Entrepreneurial Success Award
On Tuesday, May 2, Dr. Juan D. Villarreal D.D.S. was honored by the U.S. Small Business Administration Lower Rio Grande Valley District at a luncheon celebrating Small Business Week. He was presented with the SBA's 2017 Entrepreneurial Success Award at the luncheon held in Mission at the Cimarron Country Club. "Hard work, innovativeness, and service to the community" The Entrepreneurial … [Read More...]
Texas Health Steps Dental Therapeutic Services Stakeholder comments and HHSC responses
From Texas Health and Human Services: The 14-day comment period for the Texas Health Steps Dental Therapeutic Services policy ended March 28, 2017. HHSC solicited and received comments on proposed revisions to the policy from various stakeholders. A summary of comments relating to the proposed policy changes and HHSC responses follows. These mostly concern requiring prior authorization for … [Read More...]
Texas HHS Inspector General Stuart Bowen Resigns
The Texas Monthly has reported that Health and Human Services Inspector General Stuart W. Bowen Jr. resigned last night. He was asked to resign by Gov. Greg Abbott because he had hidden the fact that he was also employed by a Washington D.C. law firm which was lobbying the federal government on behalf of the government of Iraq. Bowen apparently figured prominently in the removal of Iraq from … [Read More...]
HHS Inspector General Website Survey
The Inspector General wants your feedback on our website, https://oig.hhsc.texas.gov/. Please take our quick, 7 question survey and let us know how you use our site, what you like about it, and what … Read More...
Smith Confirmed as Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner
The Texas Senate confirmed Charles Smith's appointment on April 19 as the Health Human Services executive commissioner for a two-year term at the head of the state's largest agency. Smith, a … Read More...
Credentialing for Medicaid Providers to Become Faster?
Last week, the Texas Association of Health Plans (TAHP) announced that it was working with the Texas Medical Association (TMA) to speed up credentialing for Medicaid providers by selecting Aperture, … Read More...
Interview with the Author of “Truth Decay,” Dr. Juan D. Villarreal
The following is an interview done with Dr. Juan D. Villarreal, author of "Truth Decay: How Government Corruption Caused a Political Scandal Victimizing Texas Dentists and How It Could Happen to … Read More...
New Draft Dental Policies for Medicaid Up For Comments Until March 28
Texas HHS placed on their website last week two new policies relating to Medicaid dentistry on which they would like stakeholder comments. Dental anesthesia The first is a draft policy relates … Read More...
Followup Survey on DMOs Shows Slight Improvement, Not Much Different
Below are the results of our TDMR Medicaid Dental Maintenance Organization Followup Survey. 84 dentists responded to the survey which is not quite comparable to the 105 who took the first survey back … Read More...
Q&A with Texas Dental Association President Dr. Rita M. Cammarata, D.D.S.
TDMR recently had the opportunity to interview the current president of the Texas Dental Association, Dr. Rita M. Cammarata. Dr. Cammaratta, despite her extremely busy schedule, graciously consented … Read More...
