Paying kickbacks to doctors for referrals. Surgically implanting unneeded heart monitors. Aggravating troubled teenagers during psychiatric sessions to worsen their mental health. Health-care providers accused of bilking taxpayers by inflating Medicare or Medicaid expenses have paid billions of dollars in … Read More
Houston-based Episcopal Health Foundation has awarded $1.3 million in COVID-19 relief grants to 32 Texas organizations working to address health care and social inequities exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. Nearly $500,000 will be awarded to clinics who serve Texas’ uninsured … Read More
COVID-19 has changed dentistry faster than any crisis in the past, and we still don’t know how everything will play out. But the fact is that any dental practice can face any crisis at any time. Fire, flood, lawsuit, key … Read More
Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton is the lawyer for the State of Texas and is charged by the Texas Constitution to: – defend the laws and the Constitution of the State of Texas– represent the State in litigation– approve public … Read More
If not for coronavirus, you’d expect your local dentist office to be doing just fine. Dentist offices tend to be stable businesses that stick around for decades, unlike restaurants that open and close frequently. Dentists earn a healthy salary — … Read More
The US FCC (Federal Communication Commission) had proposed on Tuesday a record $225 million in punitive measures against John Spiller and Jakob Meyers, two telemarketers who the US FCC claimed had allegedly made over 1 billion illegal robocalls offering fraud … Read More
Texas yesterday reported 2,504 new cases of Covid-19, the highest one-day total since the pandemic emerged. A month into its own reopening, Florida this week found 8,553 new confirmed cases, the most of any seven-day period. California’s hospitalizations are at … Read More
The U.S. Dept. of Justice announced that it charged Arrayit president March Schena for alleged involvement with fraudulent claims for allergy and COVID-19 testing. In a news release, the DOJ alleged that Schena participated in schemes to mislead investors, manipulate … Read More
Governor Greg Abbott today announced that the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) will provide approximately $177 million in emergency Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food benefits for the month of June in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. HHSC … Read More
RICHMOND, Va. – A North Carolina woman was sentenced today to four years in prison for committing a $506,000 fraud on the Virginia Medicaid program “Medicaid is a system of trust, and Jackson deliberately exploited a loophole in the Virginia … Read More
NEWARK, N.J. – The owners of two clinical laboratories in Texas and Mississippi today admitted their roles in a scheme to pay kickbacks in exchange for referrals of patient DNA samples and genetic tests to the laboratories, U.S. Attorney Craig … Read More
BOISE – Karina Renee Moore, 48, of Eagle, was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison for health care fraud, U.S. Attorney Bart M. Davis announced today. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill also ordered Moore to serve three years … Read More
After moving to Dallas in 1974, former investigative reporter Byron Harris spent his career at ABC affiliate, WFAA, reporting on everything from Medicaid fraud to government secrets at Area 51. He won two Peabody Awards, four Edward R. Murrow Awards … Read More
After nearly two months at home because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Erica Schoenradt was making plans in May to see her dentist for a checkup. Then she got a notice from Swish Dental that the cost of her next visit … Read More
HOOD RIVER, OR (KPTV) – An Oregon woman turned herself into U.S. Marshals on Thursday for allegedly stealing more than $22,000 in checks payable from a dental practice in Hood River, according to FBI officials. Andrea D. Jacobs, 49, turned … Read More
A Brookfield dentist has reached an $82,500 settlement with the state for violations of the False Claims Act. The Office of the Attorney General investigated Rawa Hassan for overcharges of dental restoration fillings that the state alleged she did not … Read More
A couple searched obituaries in their scheme to steal millions of dollars from the Medicaid program in North Carolina, reports the Raleigh News & Observer. Latisha Harron, 44, and Timothy Mark Harron, 50, face federal charges after prosecutors say they … Read More
AUSTIN,TX—Austin Creative Alliance, working to advance, connect and advocate for Austin’s arts, cultural, and creative communities to strengthen and protect the character, quality of life, and economic prosperity of our region, has compiled a list of resources and funding projects … Read More
Texas hospitals are suing patients for unpaid medical bills, a practice that has continued even as the coronavirus pandemic sends unemployment skyrocketing and spurred the state Supreme Court to pause debt collections and eviction proceedings earlier this year. Hundreds of … Read More
According to recent reports by the Urban Institute and the Kaiser Family Foundation, more than 1 million Texans are projected to lose their health insurance because of the economic recession in the U.S. caused by the coronavirus. That’s in addition … Read More
Laci Crosson’s son doesn’t have pills to manage his attention deficit disorder. Betty Canales is worried about how she’ll pay for her diabetes medication. Stevie Smith saw a doctor after she was furloughed — and paid more than double her … Read More
Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton is the lawyer for the State of Texas and is charged by the Texas Constitution to: defend the laws and the Constitution of the State of Texas represent the State in litigation approve public bond … Read More
Texas health officials made a key change Thursday to how they report data about the coronavirus, distinguishing antibody tests from standard viral tests and prompting slight increases in the state’s oft-cited daily statistic known as the positivity rate. The positivity … Read More
With stay-at-home orders ending and Texas entering Phase 2 of its reopening, optometrists and dentists are seeing business start to bounce back. Jenna Clifton, office manager of Tomball Vision Clinic, said the clinic was closed for two days during the … Read More
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge has filed a lawsuit against Brian C. Moore of Maumelle and Brown-Stingfellow, D.D.S., a dental practice in North Little Rock known as Capital Dental Center. The lawsuit alleges the dental … Read More
As both a health care worker and a small-business owner, the coronavirus pandemic hit Austin pediatrician Ari Brown especially hard. “The public perception of health care right now is: You guys are inundated, and it’s like being in ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’” … Read More
Like other small businesses around The Woodlands, dentists were forced to close their doors and are beginning to reopen now that Gov. Gregg Abbott has given them the go ahead. However, while strategies are in place to keep the number … Read More
AUSTIN — A little-known Frisco company whose owner has lofty goals to buy the Dallas Cowboys has won a $295.3 million state contract to track down Texans potentially infected with the coronavirus, though both Republican and Democratic lawmakers raise questions … Read More
Fillings, extractions, and cleanings are no longer relics of the Before Times. Dental practices in more than half the United States are reopening for business. But as one of the professions most susceptible to an illness that mainly spreads from … Read More
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Local dentist offices are following suit in adjusting to new norms as the pandemic continues. New rules and regulations may take some time getting used to, but area dental experts say this is all an effort … Read More
Last week, Texas announced it would be testing every resident and staff member in nursing homes, which have emerged as hot spots for the new coronavirus. But state-run homes for people with disabilities and state-run psychiatric hospitals — which collectively … Read More
Hygienists are being encouraged to report dentists. Dentists can’t get hygienists back to work without a fight. What’s going on? Dr. Joshua Austin looks at the root of the conflict and how both “sides” can work together. Relations between dentists … Read More
Wisconsin once helped lead a lawsuit to throw out the Affordable Care Act, but on Thursday the state Department of Justice announced it was joining a friend-of-the-court brief urging the Supreme Court to keep the law intact. “This effort to … Read More
Law360 (May 14, 2020, 10:10 PM EDT) — A Texas federal judge denied a request for compassionate release of a Houston psychiatrist serving a 12-year prison sentence for her role in a $158 million Medicare fraud scheme, ruling Thursday that … Read More
SAN ANTONIO — The fear of coronavirus may have people thinking twice before going to dental check-ups during the pandemic. But dentists say you could be risking your health long-term. The American Dental Association encourages visits to the dentist to … Read More
AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton today announced that the Hon. Catherine Mauzy of the 126th Judicial District Court of Travis County has ruled Dr. Richard Malouf of ASDC Holdings, LLC responsible for 1,842 unlawful acts under the Texas Medicaid … Read More
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas must pay $108,341,934.10 to Rockdale Blackhawk LLC, which used to be known as Little River Healthcare in Milam County. According to court records from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Western District of Texas, Waco … Read More
ATLANTA — While her daughter’s condition didn’t rise to the level of an emergency, Amanda Weishar was certain the 6-year-old needed immediate medical attention. Two permanent teeth had erupted in Rosie’s mouth, crowding her baby teeth, but no dentist was … Read More
For years, some Texas families have been stuck in a persistent cycle. Their kids are covered by Medicaid, until suddenly they’re kicked off. Sometimes parents don’t realize their children have lost coverage until they’re at the doctor’s office and find … Read More
