Dentists Have Most Cases Outstanding with Inspector General

This week the Health and Human Services Commission Inspector General released his June 2016 quarterly report on the activities of his agency.

Besides announcing the creation of a Pediatric Dentistry Action Team, the report also discloses that more Medicaid dentists have open investigations than any other provider type. While there is not a specific written mention made in the report, this fact is evident from a graphic (shown above) within the Overview section that shows open Medicaid Provider Integrity cases as of June 6, 2016.

Graphic shown as example of new software, not for its data

Oddly enough, the graphic is included because it shows a new type of information dashboard interface that is coming online in the agency for executives, not for the information shown.

Disconcerting to see dentists disproportionately represented

It is not known if these outstanding dental cases are still carryover from the Doug Wilson era or the result of new investigations.

Regardless it is disconcerting to see dentists disproportionately represented in the statistics.

Based on a calculation* from HHSC open records obtained by the Texas Tribune a few years ago, dentists represented  7.4% of the total number of billing providers in the state in 2010.  Medical doctors were 40%.

*Excel spreadsheet filter of data indicates dentists (Dentist (D.D.S., D.M.D.), Dentistry Group, Orthodontist, Oral Maxillofacial Surgeon, Texas Health Steps – Dental, Texas Health Steps – Dental Group) were 3,103 out of 41,640 billing providers.  Medical doctors (Physician Group (M.D.S Only And Multispec.), Physician Group (D.O.S Only), Physician (M.D.), Physician (D.O.), Texas Health Steps – Medical) represented 16,743.