Today, SB 207 with minor changes was approved by both Texas House and Senate conference committees. SB 207 is the bill that contains the Sunset reforms to the Health and Human Services Commission Office of Inspector General. The next step is for … Read More
Sunday night on this Memorial Day weekend, the Texas House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 207, the legislation that will reform the Health and Human Services Commission Office of Inspector General. The recorded vote was 142-0. The bill now goes back … Read More
The front-page of the Austin American Statesman Sunday morning carried the full story of the unprecedented ruling by the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) to award a Medicaid dentist back some $380,000 in legal fees from the Health and Human … Read More
TDMR has started a regular video news segment that will be carrying Texas Medicaid news plus relevant stories from around the country. Over the next few weeks, we will be starting to include interviews with key players in Texas. Our … Read More
Today, the Health and Human Services Commission announced that it has put up a new page on its website for Medicaid providers to comment and stay abreast of policy changes relating to Medicaid covered medical and dental treatments. The new … Read More
UPDATE: After publishing this article, TDMR was alerted that it is a DENTIST, not a medical doctor that is involved in this case. It involves the Rhoden Group from Corpus Christi with Dr. Cheryl Rhoden, DDS as the principal. This … Read More
Dr. Paul Dunn, a small town general dentist who practices orthodontics out of Levelland, has had a case outstanding with the Health and Human Services Commission Office of Inspector General since 2011. He has been under severe financial strain since … Read More
Senate Bill 207 which details legislative reforms to be made to the structure and function of the Health and Human Services Commission Office of Inspector General as recommended by the Sunset Advisory Commission has cleared the Texas Senate and is set … Read More
HHSC sent out an email notice today that all Medicaid providers must re-enroll for Medicaid if they were approved prior to January 1, 2013. This is due to a new federal mandate that all providers must be periodically revalidated. All providers … Read More
This past week, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission in its monthly In Touch newsletter announced that Deputy Executive Commissioner Chris Traylor is retiring as of May 31st. Traylor has been in the Texas public service for 25 years … Read More
Two articles from the Houston Chronicle this last week should send shivers down the spine of every Texan about what kind of government his or her tax dollars are buying. The whole contracting fiasco in the Texas Health and Human Services … Read More
Yesterday, the Texas Senate passed and sent down to the House of Representatives Senate Bill 207, the bill setting out much needed reforms to the Health and Human Services Commission Office of Inspector General that came out of the Sunset … Read More
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General issued a report today detailing the cumulative efforts of state Medicaid Fraud Control Units in dealing with Medicaid fraud, waste and abuse in 2014. Pharmaceutical settlements are largest … Read More
Yesterday both the Austin American Statesman and Texas Tribune published new scathing exposes on contract handling at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. Close personal relations with lobbyist of successful contractor This time however the stories did not involve … Read More
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission has put together a 56-page Fact Book on its operation. It has all sorts of statistics and information on the HHSC budget, the population it serves and the programs it provides. It can … Read More
John Keel, the Texas State Auditor, just issued his report on the Health and Human Services Commission, its Office of Inspector General and their controversial and scandal-laden, no-bid acquisition of Medicaid fraud detection software from Austin firm 21CT. Workplace not … Read More
Gov. Abbott’s Health and Human Services Commission Strike Force, besides reviewing the Medicaid fraud software contract with 21CT and Jack Stick, looked at the Health and Human Services Commission dealings with Xerox and its contract dealing with the company’s handling of Medicaid … Read More
Gov. Abbott’s strike force has published its report into contracting problems at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission that exploded into public view from the mess with former HHSC chief counsel and deputy inspector general OIG Jack Stick and Austin … Read More
The 92-page report of the Health and Human Services Strike Force has some very interesting information and observations on the operations of the Health and Human Services Commission that led it into difficulty of which the 21CT contract was essentially only … Read More
by Terri Langford and Aman Batheja, The Texas Tribune FBI agents have interviewed employees at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission about its problematic contract with Austin firm 21CT, Executive Commissioner Kyle Janek told The Texas Tribune, marking the first … Read More
These two organizations can’t seem but foul up in Texas. Both are again under the gun for their contract performance – Xerox with the Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) and the Health and Human Services Commission for contract irregularities with … Read More
The news that Smile Magic Dental clinics recently settled with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission Office of Inspector General over allegations of Medicaid fraud confirms what TDMR has been saying for a long time – that the purpose … Read More
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission just released a report last week authored by the Institute for Child Health Policy at the University of Florida. The report evaluates the health care experiences and satisfaction of the caregivers of children … Read More
by Terri Langford On a rainy day in February three years ago, about 30 men and women recently hired by the state filed into a dull government classroom to begin a week of training for their new positions. Texas funnels a … Read More
Rep. Bobby Guerra filed H.B. No. 3023 this week. The purpose of the bill is to make it mandatory for Medicaid providers to get an overpayment hearing before the State Office of Administrative Hearings if they dispute an recoupment demand from the Health and Human … Read More
This past Friday, TDMR and the Medicaid Providers Alliance held a successful health care compliance seminar at the Knapp Medical Conference Center in Weslaco. A room-capacity 72 dental providers attended and were informed that the Academy of General Dentistry had … Read More
Sen. Joan Huffman added her voice to those Texas politicians calling for the resignation of Health and Human Services Commission Executive Commissioner Kyle Janek yesterday per the Houston Chronicle. Huffman wasn’t satisfied with Janek’s answers nor his demeanor while answering … Read More
With the press pounding out incredible stories about Jack Stick’s tenure at the Health and Human Services Commission and its Office of Inspector General, would it be surprising to learn that Stick, before he came to HHSC, had possibly earned … Read More
An investigator from the Florida Office of Attorney General Medicaid Fraud Control Unit confirmed yesterday that an arrest had been made for Medicaid fraud. $6.7 billion in Medicaid waste, fraud and abuse nationwide Had their office uncovered a major Medicaid … Read More
This past Monday, the House Human Services Committee held a hearing about the current status of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission Office of Inspector General. A lot has happened in the last two months since the devastating hearings before … Read More
Former Health and Human Services Commission chief counsel Jack Stick’s name was again prominent in the Houston Chronicle yesterday. Former employees coming forward Former employees of HHSC and the HHSC-Office of Inspector General where Stick worked earlier as deputy inspector general … Read More
An executive office chair wasn’t good enough for Jack Stick at the HHSC Office of Inspector General. He and Doug Wilson, those now-dethroned towering pillars of routing out Medicaid fraud, waste and abuse, had to have better, much better. Stick needed custom … Read More
Lawyers for a number of Medicaid dentists have filed their response to a revised suit filed by the state in the wake of the Sunset Advisory Commission hearings last December. Nonsuited administrative cases a victory for due process rights Prior to Christmas, … Read More
There is a primary reason why states around the nation have trouble fighting Medicaid fraud. States inept fighting fraud Both the KCBS videos from California we posted and the recent Sunset Commission report on Texas HHSC-OIG highlight that state agencies can … 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
PRESS RELEASE FROM THE GOVERNOR: Today, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced the appointment of Stuart W. Bowen, Jr., as Inspector General for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission for a term to expire Feb. 1, 2016. The inspector general … Read More
David Gibson, CEO from Reflective Medical, one of the companies that demonstrated their Medicaid fraud detection software to HHSC back in 2010 and 2011, sent TDMR links to a couple of YouTube videos that show the kind of fraud that … Read More
Today, Sen. John Whitmire sent a letter to HHSC Executive Commissioner Kyle Janek suggesting he resign immediately for “the best interest of the State of Texas.” “Enough is enough” The Austin American Statesman quoted Whitmire as telling them, “Enough is enough. I … Read More
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission sent out a report today that a study has found that in 2011 more children enrolled with the Texas Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) had received dental care than the national average. – … Read More
In an era when Texas government is supposed to be efficient, cost-effective and mindful of taxpayer dollars, a miracle to be emulated by other states thanks to the Perry administration, the media continues to uncover incredible betrayals of public trust … Read More
