Back in May of 2014, the State of Texas terminated Xerox as the state’s Medicaid claims administrator and filed suit against the company. The state is seeking recompense for hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars paid out by the company for … Read More
Dallas TV station WFAA is losing its long-time, award-winning investigative reporter Byron Harris to retirement. Harris announced a few weeks ago that he would be leaving the station in October, after spending 40 years with WFAA. It goes without saying … Read More
The Health and Human Services Commission has just put online proposed changes to the THSteps Diagnostic Dental Services Policy and is requesting stakeholder feedback on the changes. The updated policy will require the use of a professionally developed and … Read More
Yesterday, Travis County District Court Judge Amy Clark Meachum issued her decision in the case of Antoine Dental Centers of Houston, vindicating the practice in its payment hold case. The practice had been accused of “credible allegations of fraud” in … Read More
UPDATE, August 11, 2015: We have been informed by a very keen-eyed and interested observer that the definition of “physician” under the Social Security Act includes dentists. So we are not sure why the Texas Health and Human Services Commission … Read More
A name familiar to many Medicaid dentists who have felt the sting of Doug Wilson and Jack Stick’s Office of Inspector General in the last few years has resigned, per the Texas Tribune. Cody Cazares, an aide to former Health … Read More
The story about Dr. Rachel Trueblood settling in October 2014 with the Health and Human Services Commission Office of Inspector General for $39,000 after the agency was demanding $16 million in Medicaid overpayments is well-known. However, the story of another … Read More
In January, Stuart Bowen took charge of a state office rocked by accusations of corruption, incompetence and inefficiency. Responsible for ferreting out fraud amid the programs and procedures of the sprawling Health and Human Services Commission, the office of Inspector General … Read More
TDMR has learned that the new Health and Human Services Commission Inspector General Stuart Bowen, Jr. has been taking on and overhauling the agency’s use of statistical sampling and extrapolation. This is the most controversial tool that the agency had … Read More
The vicissitudes of Dr. Paul Dunn have been chronicled by TDMR over the last several years. Dunn first appeared on the scene when he came to Austin during the 2013 legislative session. “Credible allegation of fraud” payment hold, but told … Read More
Last Wednesday, July 16, lawyers for Antoine Dental Centers of Houston again went to court. Going Travis County District Court This time they appeared before Travis County District Court to appeal the Medicaid payment hold final decision by former Health … Read More
The eight steps you need to take to put together a program for yourself! Many people have asked what the process for establishing an effective compliance program is. At one point, having a compliance program was optional. As a result … Read More
Here is the June/July edition of the Texas Medicaid News! Hello and welcome to the Texas Medicaid news update, I’m Andy Zajac. Things have been hot and heavy over the last few weeks in Austin. 1) Our top story is … Read More
Four firms provided “proof of concept” demonstrations of their Medicaid fraud detection software to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission and its Office of Inspector General back in 2011. These proof of concept projects allowed the firms to access … Read More
This past Friday at the Leon Valley Conference Center in San Antonio, Star Compliance Services and TDMR held our third healthcare compliance seminar, following our recent successful seminar in Houston and the earlier one held in February at Weslaco. Gregory … Read More
The press has uncovered a lot of conduct unbecoming at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission and its Office of Inspector General in the last eight months. First there was the Sunset Advisory Commission with its damning report on … Read More
This morning, TDMR was notified that Governor Greg Abbott has now signed into law SB 207, the legislation which makes major changes and improvements to the way the Texas Health and Human Services Commission Office of Inspector General will work. … Read More
Texas Dentists for Medicaid Reform assisted Star Compliance Services this past Friday to hold a one-day healthcare compliance seminar in Houston at the Norris Conference Center – City Centre. It is the first in a series of seminars that were … Read More
The term “Meaningful Use” is the federal government’s way of describing the use of certified Electronic Health Record (EHR) technology, in a meaningful manner to achieve specific standards, namely: Improve quality, safety, efficiency, and reduce health disparities Engage patients and … Read More
The Texas Tribune just reported the following this morning: Kyle Janek, the head of the state’s embattled Health and Human Services Commission, will step down and be replaced by his former deputy, sources with direct knowledge of the move said Friday. … Read More
