The following is an opinion piece written by Jason Ray, attorney for a number dentists who are being prosecuted by HHSC-OIG for their Medicaid orthodontic billings. Mr. Ray is with the firm of Riggs Aleshire & Ray, P.C. I … Read More
The American Association of Orthodontists have updated their definition of “medically necessary” care to include “emotional well-being.” They have done so because they state that recent studies have linked a “patient’s dental appearance and the incidence of bullying.” Will such … Read More
A recent review of our website content revealed to us that while PDF files containing these photos have always been on the site, perhaps they have not been as prominently displayed as they should be. Medicaid after all is about … Read More
A new security risk assessment (SRA) tool to help guide health care providers in small to medium sized offices conduct risk assessments of their organizations is now available from HHS. The SRA tool is the result of a collaborative effort … Read More
The NY Times, in conjunction with the Texas Tribune, has published an article on the recent $3.75 million settlement between Carousel Pediatrics and the Texas Health and Human Services Commission Office of the Inspector General and its affect on the … Read More
This week the Texas Attorney General filed a remarkable brief to oppose the motion to disqualify HHSC judge Rick Gilpin from a Medicaid payment hold case because he was a senior lawyer in the Attorney General’s office for some 38 … Read More
A motion has been filed with the Texas Health and Human Services Appeal Division to have Judge Rick Gilpin disqualified as a hearing officer for cases involving dentists that started while Gilpin was still an attorney within the Attorney General’s … Read More
The same HHSC judge that overturned a favorable SOAH (State Office of Administrative Hearings) decision in the payment hold case of Antoine Dental of Houston, has denied a motion to have a Medicaid overpayment hearing held at SOAH. HHSC Administrative … Read More
The Health and Human Services Commission issued a press release this afternoon that OIG has now settled with Carousel Pediatrics of Austin on claims of Medicaid fraud, now deemed billing errors, for $3.75 million. $22.1 million settled for $3.75 million … Read More
The Big Conversation If the University of Texas System regents tap Gov. Rick Perry favorite Kyle Janek as their next chancellor, they won’t get pushback from the president of the system’s flagship campus. “I’ve known Kyle for a long … Read More
TDMR has received notification that HHSC-OIG has begun a Provider Education series that will cover topics of particular interest to Medicaid providers. It is about time. The first topic is Understanding Waste, Abuse and Fraud and TDMR has rabble roused … Read More
TDMR presents the second in a series of articles on health care compliance penned by TDMR President Greg Ewing. Greg is a health care lawyer with over fifteen years of experience in transactional health law; health information technology; privacy and security … Read More
According to a government source, Jack Stick has been elevated from his position at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission as Deputy Inspector General for Enforcement to that of interim Chief Legal Counsel, replacing the retiring Steve Aragorn. A further … Read More
On February 27th, administrative law judge Rick Gilpin of Texas Health and Human Services Commission issued a final order in the “credible allegation of fraud” payment hold case of Antoine Dental of Houston, fully reversing the Proposal for Decision written … Read More
When Steve Aragon’s daughter invited him to speak to her students for career day, he wasn’t sure what he was going to say. He was lined up behind a judge, a SWAT team member and a zoologist. But when it … Read More
On Monday, Augustine Ihenacho Nnadi, a Medicaid fraud analyst with the Texas Attorney General’s Office, was arrested for bribery. Agents with the FBI and the Texas Attorney General’s Office arrested Nnadi Monday morning in Houston, Texas. According to the criminal complaint, … Read More
Last September 27th, TDMR published an article concerning the fact that the Texas Health and Human Services Commission Office of the Inspector General at that time had not yet made available on its website, information on due process rights for … Read More
On Sunday, the Austin American Statesman published a feature article on the current state of affairs regarding how Texas regulators are dealing with the claims of large scale Medicaid orthodontic fraud that have been swirling around Texas since 2011. The … Read More
This past week a number of Medicaid dentists filed suit against ACS, Affiliated Computer Systems, the state’s Medicaid claims administrator better known as TMHP or the Texas Medicaid and Health Partnership. The dentists allege that ACS was negligent in their … Read More
Antoine Dental Center of Houston, Harlingen Family Dentistry of Harlingen, M&M Orthodontics of San Antonio and Dr. Paul Dunn of Levelland filed suit this past Monday against ACS, Affiliated Computer Services, the state’s private contractor which handles claims administration for … Read More
