Media

AUSTIN – For years, Texas state officials have boasted about a unique program they say enables the purchase of technology products at competitive prices without a costly and lengthy bidding process. But a Houston Chronicle investigation has found that the … Read More

In State Contracting, Failure Is an Option by Aman Batheja, The Texas Tribune February 1, 2015  How Texas outsourced crucial state services for two decades — and got smoked.  In 1991, the Texas attorney general’s office signed an $11 million contract to … Read More

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission, buffeted in recent months for its bungling of major contracts, purchases more technology products and services than any other state agency, with about $632 million in purchases since fiscal 2010. Combine that agency’s … Read More

As state and federal investigators continue to look into Austin tech firm 21CT’s no-bid contract with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, company executives in recent weeks have waged an aggressive public relations campaign, claiming the project was competitively … Read More

When a relatively small high-tech company lands a $20 million contract with a large state agency without having to compete for it, even though the company has no direct experience with the matter at hand, eyebrows raise and foreheads furrow, … Read More

AUSTIN – Gov. Greg Abbott said Wednesday that the need for more oversight and transparency in state contracting is so great that it cannot wait for official action from lawmakers. In a letter to all state agency heads, Abbott ordered … Read More

For those of you who follow my blog, you know that the single state agency in New Mexico, Human Services Department (HSD), accused 15 behavioral health care providers, which made up 87% of the mental health care in NM, of … Read More

Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday ordered state agency heads to enact stringent reforms to contracting practices by Sunday instead of waiting for new laws to pass the Legislature, one of his first acts as governor that frames his administration as … Read More

In a letter sent today to all state agency heads, Governor Greg Abbott called for higher standards in the State’s contracting and procurement process, including specific reforms aimed at restoring the public trust in the contracting process. Governor Abbott expressed … Read More

OCALA – Investigators were executing a search warrant at a pediatric dental office in Ocala Wednesday morning.As part of a Medicaid fraud investigation, officials with the Florida Attorney General’s Office and other investigators were at Churchill Dentistry, at 255 SE … Read More

Weeks after calling for stronger rules to curb conflicts of interest in the wake of a no-bid contracting scandal at Texas’ massive health agency, state Sen. Jane Nelson filed a bill on Monday that would do just that. Nelson, a … Read More

For the most part, state agencies comply with existing contracting requirements, but several struggle with two basics: shopping for a vendor and monitoring that vendor’s performance, the Texas state auditor’s office said in a report on Tuesday. The report provided no new … Read More

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A former executive who sued a firm managing part of the privatized Medicaid program in Kansas asked a judge Monday to toss out counterclaims accusing her of trying to extort $3 million, calling those claims a … Read More

Following a controversial no-bid deal at the Health and Human Services Commission, Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, filed a bill on Monday that seeks to strengthen oversight of state contracting. Nelson’s legislation — Senate Bill 353 — would require an authority figure … Read More

January 22, 2015 — The ADA and other health professional associations have filed a friend-of-the-court “amicus” brief with the U.S. Supreme Court regarding an upcoming case, Armstrong v. Exceptional Child Center, Inc., that asserts the right to sue the government … Read More

MANCHESTER — Prosecutors have dropped all felony charges against the brother of city orthodontist Dr. Nicholas Marshall, who was cleared of felony Medicaid fraud charges by a jury in October.While Dr. Marshall was cleared of 45 felonies, charges lingered against … Read More

Let’s forget for a moment about all the issues that divide us as Texans, from guns to abortion to Confederate flags on license plates. Let’s focus on something that nearly all of us can agree to hate – bad spending. … Read More

In a harsh rebuke of the 2013 behavioral health shake-up that thrust mental health care for indigent New Mexicans into disarray, a Santa Fe judge on Friday ruled that the state Human Services Department had denied due process to one … Read More

The following is republished from the Texas Tribune: When Jack Stick became the deputy inspector general of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission in 2012, he saw an opportunity to help investigators beef up their production in bringing potential fraud … Read More

HOUSTON — The leader of the company at the center of Texas’s contracting scandal on Friday defended her firm and explained its recent controversial political donations but declined to provide specifics about the value it gave the state. CEO Irene … Read More

A Rockwall man who the feds say is at the center of one of the largest schemes to bilk Medicaid in history has once again had his trial delayed. Jacques A. Roy’s long-delayed criminal trial was set to begin on … Read More

While a mushrooming scandal complete with state and federal investigations prompted two Texas state agencies to cancel contracts with Austin technology outfit 21CT last month, the state of Texas has not completely cut ties with the company. The Texas secretary … Read More

At the same time that Texas lawmakers are calling for more transparency at the state’s sprawling Health and Human Services Commission, officials there effectively have blocked the flow of public records that could provide answers to questions surrounding an unfolding … Read More

AUSTIN – Months before 21CT landed what is now the most controversial contract in Texas, it had to get approved to be eligible for no-bid state projects, and its effort did not start particularly well. Hindered by a lack of … Read More

AUSTIN — Hours after a Houston state lawmaker called on the company at the center of a no-bid contract scandal to disclose its investors, the CEO said in a blog post it firm has none. Seeking a subtle way to … Read More

The former lobbyist for the Austin tech company whose Medicaid anti-fraud contract is now the subject of criminal investigations is firing back at his former employer, accusing 21CT of trying to intimidate him into silence after he talked to the … Read More

When it comes to reimbursing state employees for education costs, the Texas Department of Transportation is far more generous than other state agencies. After reporting this month that the Texas Health and Human Services Commission paid a top aide’s $97,020 MBA tuition, … Read More

Jan. 21–The trial for a Pullman dentist accused of four counts of Medicaid fraud began late Tuesday afternoon in Latah County. After a lengthy morning spent selecting jurors, attorneys gave their opening statements a little past 2 p.m. in the … Read More

HELENA – A Republican state senator from Billings Wednesday presented a key piece of GOP plans to reform Medicaid and public-assistance programs in Montana: A bill to hire an outside contractor to verify the eligibility of welfare applicants. “If we … Read More

FORT WORTH, Texas (U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Texas) — The owner/operator of a chiropractic clinic in Fort Worth, Texas, was sentenced this morning on a federal felony conviction stemming from her submission of false reimbursement claims to Medicare … Read More

SEATTLE (AP) — A health center that provides services to the poor and minority residents in 10 counties has agreed to pay $3.65 million to settle an investigation by the Washington Attorney General’s Office. The Seattle Times reports (http://is.gd/sS880v ) … Read More

Six Leon County case managemers are facing charges of Medicaid fraud after an investigation by Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office. The six were arrested in connection with more than $170,000 in Medicaid fraud. All of those arrested worked for … Read More

AUSTIN – The widening fallout from a no-bid contract scandal claimed the job of a fourth top state official Friday when Health and Human Services Commission deputy chief of staff Casey Haney said he, too, would resign. Haney, a trusted … Read More

In the latest in a string of high-profile resignations at the Health and Human Services Commission, Casey Haney — who received $97,000 in college tuition against agency policy — quit Friday. Haney, who was deputy chief of staff for Executive … Read More

The assistant to Texas Health and Human Services Commission chief Kyle Janek who received a pre-paid MBA at taxpayer’s expense resigned on Friday. “It is clear that my continued employment is a distraction from the work of you and the 54,000 … Read More

Amid calls for Texas Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Kyle Janek to resign over a contracting scandal, sources close to Gov.-elect Greg Abbott said Thursday Abbott won’t make a decision about Janek’s future until after the completion of state … Read More

The double-sided city of Texarkana, its residents sometimes quip, has two of everything. There are the mayors: one for the 36,000 people living west of Highway 71 in Texas, another for the 30,000 on the Arkansas side of town. There are the … Read More

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One month after she was put on paid administrative leave, Erica Stick has resigned as chief of staff at the Health and Human Services Commission. In December, Stick — the wife of embattled former commission chief counsel Jack Stick — … Read More

Can common sense trump partisan politics? The question is especially apropos these days in Texas, which accounts for about 25 percent of the 4 million Americans who would gain health insurance if their state’s lawmakers expanded Medicaid. The healthcare industry knows … Read More