Senate Bill 1803, authored by Sen. Joan Huffman and assisted by Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, passed unanimously the Texas Senate yesterday, 31-0, and it is now ready to hit the House floor.
The bill was amended by the Senate to include a definition for “credible allegation of fraud” and clarifies the procedure for investigations by the HHSC Office of Inspector General into provider Medicaid fraud and placing CAF holds.
The bill is comprehensive covering both the payment hold and overpayment phases, providing deadlines for notifications and actions by both providers and OIG. While trial de novo is not included, there is appeal to a judicial review in Travis county. The amendments and vote can be read in the Senate Journal. The amended final bill is available on the Capitol website.
TDMR will post a more comprehensive outline of what the bill entails shortly.
Immediate feedback from lawyer Tony Canales who has been leading the way in these issues: “Read it and it’s good. It gives us an appeal from a payment hold. It gives the provider a choice between SOAH and HHSC for the payment hold and finally there is an appeal to the district Court. So, this is okay.”