AUSTIN –Texas state health officials have decided not to release any more records about a controversial no-bid contract until a criminal investigation has been completed, reversing an earlier pledge to produce the public documents. Spokeswoman Stephanie Goodman told reporters this … Read More
A leading state senator says she will propose tougher safeguards against unethical behavior by those involved in awarding contracts to the private vendors who increasingly deliver medical care and social services to vulnerable Texans. Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, is … Read More
The chair of an influential legislative panel is calling for stronger rules to limit conflicts of interest in state contracting as well as increased oversight of major contracts like the multi-million-dollar no-bid deal awarded to Austin tech company 21CT. State … Read More
A no-bid state contract for $110 million, state officials being shown the door and the agency’s top official insisting he was misled. It all points to a need for more strenuous oversight at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. … Read More
Today, HHSC-OIG issued a report detailing amounts recovered by state managed care organizations for certain fraud and abuse in state fiscal year 2014. 22 MCOs recover $3.8 million The report entitled “HHSC OIG Annual Report on Certain Fraud and Abuse … Read More
One of three Texas Health and Human Services Commission employees put on paid administrative leave amid a probe into the agency’s contracting procedures is facing a 50 percent cut to his salary. Cody Cazares, who was until recently the chief … Read More
A former aide to Jack Stick, hired by Stick when he was the OIG deputy inspector general for enforcement, has now been demoted and seen his salary cut, according to a late breaking story in the Austin American Statesman. The Texas Tribune has … Read More
The chief of staff for Jack Stick, the former top Texas health official at the center of a criminal inquiry over his handling of a medicaid fraud contract, saw his salary more than double in three years, to $112,000. Cody … Read More
AUSTIN – The deal was sweet enough to cost Jack Stick his job as the top lawyer at Texas’s sprawling state health agency: a multimillion-dollar contract given without competition to a local company with no experience in the field. Three … Read More
Forget about losing weight and quitting smoking, Texans need to resolve to pay more attention in 2015. The recent controversies, suspected fraud, and backroom deals taking place within Texas state agencies are happening so fast that it’s hard to keep … Read More
While Texas is in drought, the bad news floodgates have opened even wider at HHSC with a further state report about inept and costly contract mismanagment. This time with AT&T. Ballooned from $1 million to $110 million Today, the Dallas Morning News jumped … Read More
The state’s umbrella health and social services agency has fumbled yet another contract, allowing huge cost overruns on a telecom contract with Dallas-based AT&T Inc., according to an audit released Tuesday. State Auditor John Keel, who reports to the Legislature, … Read More
In recent weeks, media outlets have shone a spotlight on the state’s procurement of technology to fight Medicaid fraud, highlighting the need to improve the system. 21CT, an Austin-based IT company with patented fraud-fighting technology, has become embroiled in questions … Read More
AUSTIN – One of Rick Perry’s most prominent gubernatorial appointees knew as early as 2012 about the project now at the center of a growing contracting scandal, the appointee disclosed Tuesday, offering the clearest indication yet of how high in … Read More
*Editor’s note: This story has been updated throughout. Texas Health and Human Services Commission chief Kyle Janek said Tuesday he was misled in briefings on a no-bid, $110 million deal handed to an Austin company for unproven software to detect Medicaid … Read More
TDMR has learned today that OIG administrative actions against a number of dental providers that have been accused of “credible allegations of fraud” have been nonsuited by OIG. UPDATE: Here is the document State v. Dentists The affected providers include Antoine Dental … Read More
While he was brokering a multimillion-dollar state contract for Austin technology company 21CT, then-state health official Jack Stick was promoting 21CT’s software to other states, assisting the company’s growth plans and seemed poised to take an executive position with the … Read More
here’s a delicious irony in the news that a state contract intended to root out fraud and increase transparency in Texas’ Medicaid program might itself show the need for more transparency and oversight of the contracting process. But it mostly … Read More
AUSTIN – When then-Texas health official Jack Stick suggested earlier this year that a company he had helped land $20 million in no-bid state contracts might get another one through a sister department, he was referring the firm to a … Read More
AUSTIN (AP) — The widening fallout over $110 million in no-bid state contracts awarded to an Austin tech company forced the resignation of a second top state official Friday, this time at the request of Republican Gov. Rick Perry, as criminal … Read More
AUSTIN – The embattled inspector general of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission resigned Friday at the behest of Gov. Rick Perry as formal investigations into a widening controversy over a company that received $110 million in no-bid contracts … Read More
AUSTIN — Jack Stick has left the building. The high-ranking Texas Health and Human Services Commission official, who submitted his resignation last Friday amid evidence of contracting favoritism, had planned to stay on the job until early next year, but instead … Read More
Health and Human Services Commission Inspector General Doug Wilson resigned Friday, scarcely more than an hour after the state auditor announced it would launch an investigation into no-bid contracts brokered under his watch in conjunction with an anti-public corruption at … Read More
AUSTIN — Texas is looking to reform the state office that goes after fraud in health care and human services: the Office of Inspector General. The Sunset Advisory Commission, which targets government waste within state agencies, recommended changes to the … Read More
AUSTIN – The Travis County District Attorney’s office and the Texas State Auditor will investigate how a company here won $110 million in state contracts without any competition, officials announced Thursday as the deals drew increasing condemnation and calls for … Read More
Within the last 24 hours, major media in Texas have published stories on their continuing investigations into former OIG deputy inspector general for enforcement Jack Stick and his allegedly favored treatment of an Austin software company for Medicaid fraud detection … Read More
AUSTIN – The powerful Texas Health and Human Services Commission official who resigned last week stretched the boundaries of a little-known state purchasing program to ensure a local company would not face competition for a $110 million contract, according to … Read More
We can no longer have an OIG that accuses providers of fraud, presumes them guilty, and denies them due process.” via Reform sought for agency investigating health, human services fraud – Reporter News.
ndustry rivals of an Austin tech company, whose pending $90 million no-bid contract extension was stripped last week, say Texas health officials misled them when they competed for a Medicaid fraud contract, which they now allege was tailor-made for the … Read More
Jack Stick, one of the elite health officials and former chief counsel for Texas Health and Human Services resigned Friday. This development took place because Stick had awarded $110 million contract to the Austin tech company 21CT in a no-bid … Read More
During a March 2012 webinar, a top Texas health official said his office was implementing a revolutionary tool to help Medicaid fraud investigators find bad guys: graph pattern analysis.“Graph pattern analysis is really the next line of defense for this … Read More
It is now official – Jack Stick, HHSC Chief Counsel and former OIG deputy inspector general for enforcement, has resigned from HHSC over published allegations of interference in the HHSC contracting process on two contracts – one for data mining software … Read More
The top lawyer for the state’s sprawling health agency has resigned amid questions raised by an American-Statesman investigation into his relationship with an Austin technology company to which he was steering $110 million in contracts. Jack Stick, chief counsel for … Read More
The top lawyer at the Texas state agency overseeing all health and human services has resigned following concerns about a $110 million no-bid contract. Jack Stick, the general counsel at the Health and Human Services Commission, offered his resignation after … Read More
Jack Stick, the top lawyer for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, is resigning his post amid a crumbling state contract with data warehouse 21CT. The commission’s Office of Inspector General, or OIG, has been under scrutiny for the … Read More
In today’s public hearings, members of the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission passed staff recommendations and supplemental additions made by a special work group, relating to the Health and Human Services Commission Office of the Inspector General. The final report is now online and … Read More
Almost two and a half years after his arrest for DWI, the date for a trial by jury has been set for Jack Stick, HHSC Chief Counsel and former OIG deputy inspector general for enforcement. The trial is now set … Read More
On November 12th, the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission held public hearings on the Health and Human Services Commission with staff from both the Commission and HHSC staff testifying. The subject of the hearings was the 184-page report put together by … Read More
December 2, 2014 — A Texas appeals court has invalidated several rules related to payment holds imposed during Medicaid fraud investigations, saying they violate due process rights. The Third Court of Appeals invalidated rules that authorized the Texas Office of … Read More
The Statesman reports today that HHSC’s chief counsel Jack Stick, former OIG director for enforcement, who steered business to an Austin software firm for OIG Medicaid fraud detection data mining software, has for years had close connections to the firm’s … Read More
