texas health and human services commission

HHS has published the 12th edition of a reference guide for Texas Medicaid and CHIP, commonly known as the Pink Book. The new version that has under gone a complete redesign is posted here.  

In the same Xerox/Conduent court filing from July 2018 mentioned in our previous article, there is another exhibit worth mentioning.  It is the complete email chain involving HHSC OIG officials discussing OIG investigator Ray Acuña’s meeting notes on the Xerox/Conduent … Read More

The State Medicaid Managed Care Advisory Committee of HHSC is holding a public meeting in Austin on December 12. Here is the information: December 12, 2018 – 1:00pm Health and Human Services Commission, Brown-Heatly Building, Public Hearing Room 4900 North … Read More

An anti-abortion group that continuously failed to provide reproductive health services to the number of patients it told the state it could is getting its contracts terminated — and is facing an investigation by Texas’ health agency over questionable billing. … Read More

UPDATE: We’ve added below an additional HHSC presentation given to the House Committee on General Investigating & Ethics which gives further details of MCO contract management. This morning HHSC sent out a notice that it was looking for public comments … Read More

An anti-abortion group that continuously failed to provide reproductive health services to the number of patients it told the state it could is getting its contracts terminated — and is facing an investigation by Texas’ health agency over questionable billing. … Read More

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHCS) recently published its “Rider Report 61,” a review of Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) managed care contracts commissioned by the legislature. The report aims to be a comprehensive assessment of … Read More

UPDATE: Christine Mann, the Press Officer at HHSC, has informed us that new RFP is out as of yesterday.  The information is below and is available at http://www.txsmartbuy.com/sp/HHS0002879 Medicaid CHIP Dental Status: Addendum Posted Solicitation ID:   HHS0002879 Response Due Date: 11/30/2018 Response Due Time: 2:00 PM Agency … Read More

In the last edition of TDA Today, the Texas Dental Association goes to bat for dental Medicaid providers on two issues. First, the publication reported that the TDA’s Council on Public Health and Access to Care met with HHSC (HHSC, … Read More

You just found out about this? So did we. Just learned of it TDMR learned of it about 10 days ago when a provider gave us a copy of a letter they received from DentaQuest dated July 27 but received … Read More

Gov. Greg Abbott has tapped Courtney Phillips, the head of Nebraska’s health department, to lead Texas’ state health agency, effective Oct. 19. Phillips, the chief executive officer of the Nebraska Department of Health & Human Services since 2015, replaces Charles … Read More

We have closed our revised 2018 Dental Management Organization annual survey and are today giving you the results.  Our survey sample is not that large, unfortunately.  At the end of the day, only 39 providers entered the survey as we … Read More

An industry insider has told TDMR that he thinks six dental management companies will vie for the Texas Medicaid dental contract RFP that closes in September. He named the two current contractors, MCNA and DentaQuest, and included Liberty Dental and … Read More

We knew there were serious problems with Texas Health and Human Services Commission handling of billions of dollars in contracts for health care and social services, but new audits show this mess of a system is even worse than we … Read More

AUSTIN — Texas’ sprawling bureaucracy for regulating health care and providing social services is vulnerable to a “perception of impropriety” because it routinely lets individual contracting personnel open bids on their own, without any witnesses, a new internal audit says. … Read More

Only one word comes to mind looking at photos that Texas Department of State Health Services employees took of gray, green and brown-hued mold dotting their office furniture: Ew. As of July 10, as many as 127 state workers have … Read More

Rendering of new HHS Building It is finally here, not with a bang but with a sigh.  It’s been out over a week and not a whisper about it until today despite the fantastic anticipation by dental Medicaid providers over … Read More

The new audit is yet another scandal at an agency plagued by contracting woes. Six of the commission’s leaders have left in the last several months. BY EMMA PLATOFF Republished from the Texas Tribune A new state audit has found that … Read More

A new state audit has found that Texas’ health agency may have awarded more than $3.4 billion in contracts erroneously — another scandal at an agency that has lost six of its top leaders over the last several months in … Read More

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General issued a report yesterday that found that managed care organizations are not doing enough to identify Medicaid waste, fraud and abuse.  HHS-OIG undertook the review because it … Read More

TDMR has confirmed rumors that a number of Texas dental providers have been approached by DentaQuest to change their payment method from managed fee-for-service to capitation. Capitation to “share the financial risk” with providers A capitation payment is a fixed amount … Read More

In case anyone missed it, Charles Smith, the Executive Commissioner of Texas Health and Human Services retired at the end of May. The continuing saga of poor contracting practices at the state agency enraged legislators and Gov. Abbott.  As the … Read More

Tracy Ryans pulls out client applications containing private information that was mistakenly sent to her from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, on April 24, 2018. Pu Ying Huang for The Texas Tribune. By Marissa Evans, The Texas Tribune … Read More

AUSTIN — Gov. Greg Abbott says he is alarmed by contracting mistakes at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission and is sending a top aide, former state Sen. Tommy Williams, to correct the problems. Abbott said through a spokesman … Read More

Charles Smith of the Texas Department of Health and Human Services testifies Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2017, to the House Committees on Human Services and Public Health at the Capitol.   Bob Daemmrich for the Texas Tribune. Texas HHS still hasn’t learned … Read More

TDMR has been asked several times recently if we have any knowledge of an upcoming RFP (request for proposals) for dental management organizations.  There have been rumors flying around for well over a year now that Texas Health and Human Services … Read More

LONG BEACH, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Molina Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE: MOH) today announced that its Texas subsidiaries, Molina Healthcare of Texas, Inc. and Molina Healthcare of Texas Insurance Company, have been awarded contracts by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) for … Read More

TDMR has been asked to inform its readers that a new association of dentists is in the process of being formed. The new association is to be called the United States Dental Association. Among the founding members of the new organization … Read More

Yes, we know it is 2018.  Sorry.  But the truth about the late great Texas Medicaid orthodontic debacle (2007 to 2011) has been not fully been made public yet.  So here is some more truth for those who were involved … Read More

Two days ago, the iconic and troubled American corporation Xerox was sold to Japan’s Fujifilm for $6.3 billion dollars, ending its solo history in this country. Losing money, under pressure The new company will be known as Fuji Xerox and, … Read More

Texas House Speaker Joe Straus is calling on House members to investigate the Texas Health and Human Services Commission after a state audit report revealed mishandling of a contract with a health insurance company. The State Auditor’s Office released a … Read More

In January of last year, Dr. Juan Villarreal’s long-awaited book “Truth Decay: How Government Corruption Caused a Political Scandal Victimizing Texas Dentists and How It Could Happen to You!” was released on Amazon.com.     “Truth Decay” details Dr. Villarreal’s personal struggles … Read More

AUSTIN – As lawmakers on Capitol Hill continue to discuss the future of the CHIP program, Texas is set to receive $135 million from the federal government to keep benefits in place thru February. CHIP, which stands for Children’s Health Insurance Program, … Read More

UPDATE:  After conferring with colleagues, this is not the major reimbursement changes that were discussed earlier this year but an annual update of codes with minor changes. Hope you are having a nice Friday afternoon, the Friday before the Christmas … Read More

UPDATE: Arguments in this case were heard by the Supreme Court on Wednesday, December 6. The 39-minute video of the oral arguments is here. The court’s decision is not expected until spring of next year. As a heads up for dentists … Read More