To support the OIG’s belief that preventing fraud, waste and abuse is everyone’s responsibility, the agency provides training to stakeholders and collaborates with agency partners to improve best practices.
Recently, the OIG collaborated with the HHS Procurement and Contracting Services (PCS) division to improve educational materials relating to grant recipients’ fiduciary responsibilities. The effort focused on describing issues that auditors frequently encounter, which can lead to a finding, including the need for grant recipients to meet program objectives, and the need to appropriately allocate funding toward activities allowed by HHS contracts and grant descriptions.
The OIG Benefits Program Integrity (BPI) Unit met with 195 Health and Human Service eligibility staff members across the state to discuss fraud detection, prevention and referral topics. The engagement provided BPI team members with crucial information that aids investigations and helped eligibility staff better understand how they contribute to the OIG’s mission of fighting fraud.
The Texas Prevention Partnership provides Special Investigative Units from managed care organizations and dental maintenance organizations with an opportunity to discuss pending investigations, referrals, and current fraud, waste and abuse schemes with OIG team members and representatives from the Texas Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit staff.
The OIG is always exploring new opportunities to strengthen shareholders’ efforts to combat fraud, waste and abuse in Texas Health and Human Services programs.