The Texas Sunset Commission held public hearing both Wednesday and Thursday this week on the Health and Human Services Commission as well as its beleaguered Office of Inspector General. Sunset and HHSC staff testified on Wednesday about the recent Sunset Commission … Read More
AUSTIN – Texas officials voiced support Wednesday for a proposal to combine five big state health and human services agencies into a mega-agency so massive that it would have a bigger budget than many states. The agencies made their support … Read More
AUSTIN, November 11 – State Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa does not like the way the Texas Health and Human Services Commission Office of the Inspector General treats Medicaid providers and he wants to rein in the agency next session. “It … Read More
From the blog of Knicole Emanuel, a NC Medicaid attorney. Whew…the election is over. No more political ads, emails, and other propaganda… Ok, so we have our new elected officials, now our new elected officials need to pass some new … Read More
This past week, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission published on their website a circular about the process for audits being done by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on Medicaid providers in Texas. All Medicaid providers in … Read More
The Sunset Commission has set out their agenda for the upcoming public hearings on the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to be held on Wednesday and Thursday, November 12 and 13. Meeting materials will be available on the Sunset … Read More
The Texas Rangers are now investigating the Health and Human Services Commission Office of Inspector General and the firing of actuary Brad Nelson per a story in the Houston Chronicle. The Commission requested the investigation after Nelson was fired for … Read More
AUSTIN – The Texas Rangers have opened a criminal investigation into a recently fired state employee whose alleged falsification data could cost the state the chance to recoup millions of dollars from dentists and orthodontists of Medicaid fraud, officials confirmed … Read More
The 3rd Texas Court of Appeals has agreed with a Travis County District Court judge and has issued a ruling that the Office of the Inspector General should return over $1.2 million in withheld Medicaid funds to Harlingen Family Dentistry. TDMR received a … Read More
In another setback for the state health agency charged with rooting out Medicaid fraud, an appeals court Thursday said almost $1.26 million was improperly withheld from a dental practice even after state regulators acknowledged that no fraud had taken place. … Read More
The Austin American Statesman reported this morning that Rep. Richard Peña Raymond, D-Laredo, has requested that the Texas Health and Human Services Commission Office of Inspector General review all Medicaid cases that were worked on by the now-terminated actuary that admitted to … Read More
A Texas Health and Human Services Commission employee in the Office of the Inspector General was fired because he apparently “cooked the books” in OIG’s case against Dr. Rachel Trueblood, according to a story published in the Austin American Statesman … Read More
This past Friday, TDMR sent its comments about the recent Sunset Commission staff report on the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to the Texas Sunset Commission. The following is what was sent from TDMR president Gregory Ewing. A downloadable … Read More
TDMR received a notice from the Texas Sunset Commission on Tuesday requesting feedback on the staff report just issued on HHSC which was particularly scathing of the Office of Inspector General. Make your voice heard Any Texan can comment on … Read More
The Houston Chronicle has reported that as a result of the Sunset Commission’s scathing report on the Health and Human Services Commission Office of Inspector General, HHSC Executive Commissioner Kyle Janek is appointing a special assistant to review OIG procedures … Read More
AUSTIN – The top health official in Texas has decided to appoint a special assistant to review the state’s Medicaid anti-fraud program after an audit found it is so poorly run that it may be better for taxpayers if it … Read More
The government agency charged with rooting out medical fraud and waste is poorly managed, occasionally is unfair to those it investigates and has failed to do an effective job identifying and recovering money lost to medical fraud, according to a … Read More
by Becca Aaronson, The Texas Tribune In a blistering 225-page report on the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission recommended that the state’s health and human services system undergo a massive overhaul. The Sunset Commission, which reviews the … Read More
On September 3rd, Rachel Hammond of the Texas Association for Homecare and Hospice testified before the House Human Services Committee on SB 1803 and due process rights for Medicaid providers. Hammond gave examples of difficulties that their members were having … Read More
Dr. Behzad Nazari of Houston testified before the House Human Services Committee on September 3rd on SB 1803 and due process rights for Medicaid providers. Nazari’s Antoine Dental clinics was put under a 100% payment hold for their Medicaid orthodontic … Read More
Dr. Paul Dunn testified before the House Human Services Committee last week about his experiences with the Health and Human Services Commission Office of the Inspector General and SB 1803. Dunn testified last year before the same committee and more … Read More
This past Wednesday, the Texas House Human Services Committee held public testimony on the effectiveness of SB 1803 passed last session to put into legislation due process rights for Medicaid providers under investigation by the Health and Human Services Commission … Read More
Sen. Jane Nelson quizzed Health and Human Services Commission Inspector General Doug Wilson about the lack of Medicaid fraud convictions in Texas despite the tremendous resources the Legislature gave to the OIG last session. The questioning occurred during the August 14th … Read More
The following is the testimony presented last week to the Texas Senate Committee on Health and Human Services by Jason Ray of Riggs Aleshire & Ray in Austin. Ray is an attorney for a number of Medicaid dentists who have … Read More
Three dentists testified before the Senate Health and Human Services Committee on Thursday about their experiences with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission Office of the Inspector General and how their due process rights are still being violated despite … Read More
Three Medicaid dentists who are involved in HHSC-OIG cases will be testifying tomorrow before the Texas Senate Committee on Health and Human Services. Dr. Chad Evans of Smile Magic from Dallas, Dr. Vivian Teegardin of Harlingen Family Dentistry and Dr. … Read More
At a recent deposition in Austin, lawyers for a dental Medicaid provider discovered that the State has invested thousands of dollars to employ a well-known Dallas jury consultant to help prepare the State’s witnesses to testify in depositions and in administrative … Read More
The Senate Committee on Health and Human Services has sent out public notice that it will be holding a public hearing at the Capitol in Austin on Thursday, August 14th. One of the charges the Committee will look into at … Read More
Letters to both Rep. Richard Peña Raymond and Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, chairmen of the House Human Services and Public Health Committees respectively, have been sent from TDMR President Greg Ewing requesting a public hearing on SB1803 and HHSC’s compliance to … Read More
On May 7th, Dr. Kyle Janek, the Executive Commissioner of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, issued his final order in the case of Antoine Dental Center of Houston. Upheld reversal of favorable SOAH ruling on Antoine Dental As expected, … Read More
As was reported in the Austin American Statesman back on May 25th, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission is seeking tens of thousands of dollars in advance from dentists who wish to go before the State Office of Administrative … Read More
May 27, 2014 — In the latest flurry of lawsuits in the Texas Medicaid scandal, eight dentists have filed suits claiming the state and attorney general (AG) “protected” Xerox because they feared a federal clawback for hundreds of millions of … Read More
Last year, state regulators accused Dallas-area dentist Everett Evans of bilking Medicaid out of millions of dollars by performing unnecessary procedures and billing for work he didn’t do. They froze more than $800,000 in pending payments to him from the … Read More
by Becca Aaronson, The Texas Tribune May 2, 2014 Part two of two. For nearly five years, a state contractor allowed workers with limited expertise to approve dental claims for Texas’ Medicaid program, the joint state-federal insurer. State spending on … Read More
by Becca Aaronson, The Texas Tribune May 1, 2014 Part one of two. In 2010 and 2011, Antoine Dental was among Texas’ top-billing Medicaid providers for orthodontic services, collecting more than $1 million annually for putting braces on poor children. … Read More
The following is an opinion piece written by Jason Ray, attorney for a number dentists who are being prosecuted by HHSC-OIG for their Medicaid orthodontic billings. Mr. Ray is with the firm of Riggs Aleshire & Ray, P.C. I … Read More
With a high-profile legal settlement with Carousel Pediatrics, a children’s health provider, under its belt, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission’s Office of Inspector General says its ramped-up efforts to rein in Medicaid fraud have started to pay off. … Read More
The NY Times, in conjunction with the Texas Tribune, has published an article on the recent $3.75 million settlement between Carousel Pediatrics and the Texas Health and Human Services Commission Office of the Inspector General and its affect on the … Read More
A motion has been filed with the Texas Health and Human Services Appeal Division to have Judge Rick Gilpin disqualified as a hearing officer for cases involving dentists that started while Gilpin was still an attorney within the Attorney General’s … Read More
The same HHSC judge that overturned a favorable SOAH (State Office of Administrative Hearings) decision in the payment hold case of Antoine Dental of Houston, has denied a motion to have a Medicaid overpayment hearing held at SOAH. HHSC Administrative … Read More
