We want to close out 2015 with a round-up of the year’s most important stories relating to TDMR issues. It has been an exceptional year for changes at the Health and Human Services Commission. The implosion that occurred at HHSC … Read More
Texas has violated the constitutional rights of foster children by exposing them to an unreasonable risk of harm in a system where children “often age out of care more damaged than when they entered,” a federal judge ruled Thursday. “Years … Read More
Chris Traylor, executive commissioner of the state Health and Human Services Commission, said Tuesday that the state is not cutting off resettlement monies for non-profit agencies involved in the resettlement of Syrian refugees in Texas over the objection of Gov. … Read More
With the Government Accounting Office estimating that in 2014 some $124 billion was siphoned off the Medicaid and Medicare system nationally, we are again witnessing the truly schizophrenic nature of Medicaid enforcement actions in this country. In New York, this past week the … Read More
Almost two months after Gov. Greg Abbott praised state health officials for moving decisively to drop Planned Parenthood as a Medicaid health-care provider, the organization is still seeing patients and being reimbursed under the program.State health officials have not yet … Read More
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission sent out an email notification this morning that it is holding a number of public forums about the restructuring of the agency and requesting stakeholder input. We strongly suggest that Medicaid providers take … Read More
A suit to compel the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to release the full list of names of Medicaid providers that have been placed under a “credible allegation of fraud” payment hold since 2010 has been filed in Travis … Read More
Planned Parenthood’s Texas affiliates on Monday filed a federal lawsuit to keep state health officials from booting them from the state’s Medicaid program. Following Texas’ announcement in October that it would stop funding any care for poor women at Planned Parenthood clinics — a response … Read More
Health and Human Services (HHS) transformation presents an opportunity to restructure the Texas HHS system to make it more functional, efficient, effective and responsive. As this two-year transformation process unfolds, HHS agencies will be asking for input from stakeholders: the … Read More
A state worker who came under scrutiny during a high-profile contracting scandal last year has been paid more than $100,000 over the past 11 months without having to work a single day. Frianita Wilson — who earns $115,000 a year … Read More
November 17, 2015 — The Supreme Court of Texas has dismissed a petition that would have prevented practitioners from receiving Medicare funds when that provider is being investigated for fraud. In the November 13 dismissal, the state Supreme Court upheld … Read More
State officials canceled their multimillion-dollar Medicaid contract with financially troubled TAPS Public Transit on Thursday and launched an investigation into the possibility of fraud. Sherman-based Texoma Area Paratransit System won the three-year contract in July 2014 to provide non-emergency medical … Read More
As TDMR reported back at the end of September, the new Health and Human Services Commission Inspector General Stuart Bowen had started settling outstanding investigations and cases against Medicaid dentists and providers. Senator Charles Perry was quoted in the media … Read More
Medicaid providers can now find their patients’ medical histories on YourTexasBenefitsCard.com. Medicaid Eligibility and Health Information Services added the Blue Button to the site in September. Once a provider or office staff receives a client’s consent, they can log in to … Read More
AUSTIN – Texas Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Chris Traylor announced today Dr. John Hellerstedt is returning to the HHS system Jan. 1, this time as commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services.Hellerstedt, who last served the … Read More
In his first State of the State address to the Texas Legislature in early 2015, newly elected Gov. Greg Abbott challenged lawmakers to dedicate their unfolding 140-day session to ethics reform, asserting that “the most important commodity that we have … Read More
After more than a decade at the job, State Auditor John Keel plans to retire as of Jan. 4, his office confirmed Monday. “When I accepted my current job on Dec. 1, 2004, I expected to be here approximately 6 … Read More
The Health and Human Services Commission ruled Monday that it followed state contracting rules when it doled out a $68 million technology deal in September and that it doesn’t have to rebid the job. Deputy Executive Commissioner Ron Pigott dismissed … Read More
Gary Jessee, a 20-year veteran of state service, will be Texas’ new state Medicaid director, Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Chris Traylor announced Oct. 30. Jessee, who has served three years as the Medicaid/CHIP Division’s chief deputy director for … Read More
Texas officials are giving up on recovering most of the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on questionable Medicaid dental and orthodontic procedures. After years of an ongoing scandal over fraudulent billing and courtroom losses, the commission that oversees Medicaid … Read More
Stuart Bowen, the inspector general of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, told The Dallas Morning News that a whistleblower alleging Medicaid fraud at Texas Planned Parenthood clinics spurred the agency’s investigation. The Daily Signal previously reported that inspectors from the … Read More
The editorial board of the Austin American Statesman has called the decision by Texas “lawmakers and state officials” to investigate Planned Parenthood for Medicaid fraud part of a “witch hunt” that won’t stop until the health care provider “is completely dismantled … Read More
The Governor of the State of Texas said he hopes Planned Parenthood files legal action against their move to cut off Medicaid funding to the abortion biz so he can put their officials under oath. Newly-elected Governor Greg Abbot told … Read More
The Obama administration has warned state officials that pushing Planned Parenthood out of the state’s Medicaid program could put Texas at odds with federal law. Officials with the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services contacted the state Medicaid director on Tuesday … Read More
Texas health officials have asked an appeals court for permission to proceed with cutting payments to a therapy program for children with disabilities — the latest development in an ongoing lawsuit over the budget state lawmakers crafted this year. The … Read More
The top manager of the teacher’s pension fund received more than $2.2 million on top of his $504,000 a year salary. A lawyer making $153,000 a year at the General Land Office took home an extra $147,000. The Department of … Read More
Earlier this month, the Attorney Generals of Illinois and Arkansas announced the arrest and/or conviction of three individuals in different cases for Medicaid fraud. Going to jail for $1,000 The amounts of the fraud involved were around $1,000 per party … Read More
Texas was within eight days of slashing the amount of money it pays therapists for poor and disabled children when a state district judge last month stepped in and blocked the move. It was the latest round in a high-profile … Read More
Last Friday, the Health and Human Services Commission sent out a notice that it had “updated its Medicaid Medical and Dental Policy web page by posting stakeholder comments and HHSC responses for the THSteps Diagnostic Dental Services policy in development.” … Read More
Jack Stick says he’s “the whipping boy,” the guy who became the face of the 21CT contract scandal as Texas officials pointed fingers and scrambled to save their own jobs. “I think in December of last year, people began to … Read More
Following an outcry from dozens of state lawmakers, Texas’ top health agency announced Thursday it will make less drastic cuts than originally planned to a therapy program for children with disabilities, even if that means spending more than lawmakers budgeted for the … Read More
Former Texas health official Jack Stick tried to persuade dozens of other states to buy Austin technology company 21CT’s Medicaid fraud detection system even as he privately complained that the results it produced for Texas were worth “a bucket of … Read More
Jack Stick, a former state official at the center of a contracting scandal at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, on Friday received a sentence of six days in jail and 90 days without a driver’s license for a … Read More
A Travis County judge has temporarily blocked the state from reducing funding for a Medicaid-backed therapy program for thousands of Texas kids with special needs, ruling on Tuesday that there was enough reason to believe the Texas Health and Human … Read More
Former Texas health commission lawyer Jack Stick, found guilty Monday of driving while intoxicated, will be sentenced within the next two weeks, but no final date has been set, Travis County court officials said Tuesday. The former state representative and … Read More
AUSTIN – Texas officials are giving up on getting medical providers to repay hundreds of millions of dollars in Medicaid funding that the state for years has said was fraudulently billed for questionable dental and orthodontic procedures. After a series of … Read More
UPDATE: Stick has been sentenced to six days in jail. The man who famously carried a toy stuffed wolf into informal resolution meetings with Medicaid providers and quipped that he could “find a program violation on Jesus Christ” if Jesus … Read More
A Travis County jury on Monday convicted former state representative and Texas Health and Human Services general counsel Jack Stick of drunken driving, the latest chapter in year of problems for the former prosecutor and state lawmaker. Stick, 49, was … Read More
The top watchdog of Medicaid and other federal entitlement programs in Texas has identified more than $100 million in possible fraud and waste this fiscal year, according to the first report to the governor after years of public failures and … Read More
As reported last week by the Austin American Statesman, Stuart Bowen, the new Inspector General for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, is sending his first report to the Governor today. TDMR has obtained a copy of the full … Read More
