January 30, 2014 — South Carolina health officials and dental providers are hopeful that state lawmakers will reinstate dental Medicaid coverage for low-income adults, saying the move will save emergency room (ER) costs and help people with painful oral infections … Read More
Today was a day filled with successes for Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott as a judge ruled the state may seize the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints compound where polygamist leader Warren Jeffs committed horrific crimes … Read More
SAN ANTONIO — The facts are pretty basic: About 1 million Texans — 115,000 in Bexar County — could be eligible for insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act, but won’t be able to get it. Because they live in … Read More
Federal regulators moved today to block new home-health agencies from starting up in the Dallas and Houston areas. The reason, in a word: fraud.Specifically, the regulators said they wouldn’t let any new agencies bill Medicare, the federal health insurance program … Read More
The Justice Department’s Medicare Fraud Strike Force has set record numbers for health care prosecutions in Fiscal Year 2013, demonstrating the targeted and coordinated approach remains strong as the strike force enters its eighth year of fighting fraud against the … Read More
AUSTIN — Those hired to care for the state’s frailest citizens are leaving their positions in droves, a state report released Wednesday shows. Nurses for the disabled and Child Protective Services caseworkers were among the positions with the highest turnover … Read More
A federal grand jury has handed down additional charges against Dr. Tariq Mahmood, whose rural hospital chain collapsed last year amid reports of reckless care and alleged fraud. The Dallas businessman now faces seven counts of aggravated identity theft, according … Read More
The operator and director of nursing of a home health agency based in Richmond, Texas, was arrested yesterday for her alleged role in a Medicare fraud scheme and a conspiracy to structure bank withdrawals. The owner and operator of the … Read More
The Far North Dallas psychologist said he treated a single postal worker seven days a week, up to eight hours a day. A federal billing contractor responded by paying the therapist more than $1 million, court records say. Now Michael … Read More
The Texas Department of Insurance on Tuesday issued state regulations for health care “navigators,” the workers who assist people seeking health insurance in the federal marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act. The rules take into account some of the … Read More
January 17, 2014 — Idaho is considering restoring adult dental coverage in its Medicaid program after emergency room costs more than doubled following budget cuts and the elimination of nonemergency dental coverage. After the program was cut in 2011, dental-related … Read More
Comments on the story: “Don’t be so quick to dismiss Medicaid business” on the Dr. Bicuspid website.
Texas is again sinking to the bottom of the barrel on a national health care measure. The state ranks 38th in the nation – down from 29th five years ago – for failing to support emergency patients. That’s according to the latest report card … Read More
AUSTIN — Hospital officials, Democratic lawmakers and advocates for the poor complained Monday that the state’s proposed rule on health insurance “navigators” could cripple efforts to educate Texans about their coverage options.At a final hearing and in written comments submitted … Read More
January 3, 2014 — Since I began my first dental client consultancy for a corporate dental practice in Arizona (about two years before the publication of my article, “The emergence of the dental practice management company,” in the September 2009 … Read More
On January 1, the Affordable Care Act changed the rules states use to determine whether people can get most types of Medicaid or Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage. Here’s a list of some of the more significant changes: Medicaid … Read More
December 31, 2013 — A 57-year-old New Hampshire dentist indicted on 189 counts of Medicaid fraud faces up to 1,300 years in prison, according to a story in the Concord Monitor. Nicholas Marshall, DDS, who practices in Manchester, is accused … Read More
A smile is one of the first things people notice about you, and yet it was a thing Robina Rayamajhi would not allow herself to show. When she was a child, dental problems left untended in her native Nepal had … Read More
December 20, 2013 — Almost half a million Coloradans are expected to gain dental benefits under Medicaid by 2016, but they’ll have a hard time finding a dentist to treat them, according to a study by the Colorado Health Institute. … Read More
December 19, 2013 — United Health Foundation’s 2013 America’s Health Rankings report has ranked U.S. states according to their health and includes visits to the dentist in its data. The healthiest states have a higher concentration of dentists, and their … Read More
Supporters of the Affordable Care Act and its so-called navigators, who are charged with helping uninsured Texans sign up for health insurance coverage, on Friday criticized proposals for additional regulations of navigators during a Texas Department of Insurance hearing. Proposed … Read More
Debra Jean Velasquez, of Robstown, and Sylvia Salinas Ramirez, of Driscoll, have been ordered to prison in a scheme to defraud the Texas Medicaid program through fraudulent home health billings, announced United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson along with Texas Attorney … Read More
For Martha Blaine, the 10 Affordable Care Act “navigators” who meet clients daily on behalf of the Community Council of Greater Dallas blend in with the rest of her staff. “They are all employees,” said Blaine, the organization’s executive director. … Read More
Washington, DC – A Houston doctor has been arrested on charges related to her alleged participation in a $158 million Medicare fraud scheme involving false claims for mental health treatment.Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal … Read More
RICHARDSON — Members of the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee met in North Texas on Monday to address the latest controversy surrounding health care “navigators,” the workers trained to help uninsured Americans find coverage under the Affordable Care … Read More
December 12, 2013 — The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has ordered GE Capital Retail Bank and its subsidiary, CareCredit, to refund up to $34.1 million to potentially more than 1 million consumers who were victims of deceptive credit … Read More
Texas has the second-highest number of people who have purchased health plans through the embattled online insurance marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act, according to enrollment figures for October and November released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Health … Read More
AUSTIN — Democrats have responded to the felony indictment of a former high-ranking official of Texas’ cancer-fighting agency by attacking Attorney General Greg Abbott.The 2014 governor’s race is expected to pit Abbott, a Republican, against Wendy Davis, a Democratic state … Read More
Update: It’s Day Two in the civil trial of District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg. Throughout the trial’s first day, a host of witnesses testified for the prosecution, recounting the events leading to Lehmberg’s booking at the Travis County Jail and what … Read More
On April 1, Texas’ most powerful elected officials gathered at the state Capitol to rail against Medicaid. In a packed press conference room with protesters shouting outside the door, Republican Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, and U.S. Sens. … Read More
A year after Texas was slated to increase Medicaid payments to primary care physicians under the Affordable Care Act, the state has received federal approval to implement the change. Although the ACA required states to increase payments to primary care … Read More
To address privacy concerns raised by state leaders, the Texas Department of Insurance on Tuesday proposed additional rules for the so-called navigators directed to help Texans find health insurance under the federal Affordable Care Act. TDI Proposes New Rules for … Read More
Texas Health and Human Services Commissioner Kyle Janek raised concerns on Tuesday about a temporary process set up by the Obama administration to help transfer applications for Medicaid from the federal health insurance marketplace over to the state. “As Jan. … Read More
WASHINGTON — For the past decade, Texas has been at war with Washington. Gov. Rick Perry and Attorney General Greg Abbott have fought the federal government on health care, voting rights and environmental regulations. On spending, new programs and regulations, … Read More
Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas will need to repay nearly three quarters of a million dollars wrongly billed to Medicare for unallowable dental services, the Office of the Inspector General states in an audit report for the facility. Due to … Read More
In fast-growing Texas, which is home to one in 11 of the nation’s children, child poverty has continued to rise despite an improving economy, according to a new report from the Center for Public Policy Priorities, a liberal think tank. … Read More
Many Texans in individual health care plans that don’t comply with the Affordable Care Act have been spared cancellation notices. But for the Texans whose plans have been dropped, health care experts are encouraging them to proceed carefully. In Texas, … Read More
December 2, 2013 — Can orthodontists select an individual set of records needed for each patient rather than the full suite of dental models, facial and intraoral photographs, a set of 2D radiographs, and clinical measurements? A study in PLOS … Read More
AUSTIN — Insurance companies, brokers and consumer advocates say a highly publicized national wave of health plan cancellations largely bypassed Texas. There are several complex reasons, but one of the biggest is this: Following the example of Arkansas and other … Read More
As technical problems persist with the online federal health insurance marketplace created under the Affordable Care Act, Texas Insurance Commissioner Julia Rathgeber decided Friday to postpone shuttering the state’s high-risk health insurance pool until March 31. TDI Postpones Closure of … Read More
