HHSC’s Inspector General is enlisting the help of managed care organizations and health care providers to fight Medicaid fraud, waste and abuse in a cooperative effort.
The office’s Integrity Initiative creates a framework for managed care organizations, health care providers and HHSC to work together to protect taxpayers and clients, said HHSC Inspector General Stuart Bowen.
“The participant member will commit to reporting to my office any fraud, waste and abuse they identify,” Bowen said. “This creates a framework for common-ground achievement.”
Participants who join agree to the five basic elements of the Integrity Initiative pledge:
- Incorporate integrity into their mission or values statement.
- Report all fraud, waste and abuse to the IG whenever and wherever they find it.
- Train all staff on Medicaid integrity practices.
- Include a link from the provider’s website to the IG website to report fraud, waste, and abuse.
- Display the IG’s Integrity Line posters.
“This entire initiative is based on what I believe to be true in Texas,” Bowen said. “The vast majority are complying or seeking vigorously to comply with all that’s required of the Medicaid program. There is a fractional cohort that is not.”
Bowen said enlisting the help of providers will aid his office’s efforts to crack down on fraud, waste and abuse.
“We will have a better system in which to work,” he said, “a system that has more integrity throughout and will come to be recognized, I hope, as the best in the United States.”
For more information on the Integrity Initiative, visit the IG website’s Integrity Initiative page.
Source: IG works to partner with providers on Integrity Initiative | In Touch