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
Health care providers who say they’ve been unfairly targeted by Texas Medicaid fraud investigators tallied a win Tuesday when the Senate passed a bill to crack down on that office and give doctors room to push back against bogus fraud … Read More
The Senate passed a bill Tuesday that seeks to revamp the state agency that investigates fraud, waste and abuse in Medicaid and other state health services. The Office of Inspector General at the Health and Human Services Commission is supposed … Read More
AUSTIN — A new bill to curb alleged abuses of an organization that is itself supposed to police abuses got Texas Senate approval Tuesday. Senators voted 30-0 to pass Senate Bill 207 by state Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, which … Read More
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – A state contracting scandal that has cost top Texas health officials their jobs and dealt new Republican Gov. Greg Abbott an early test was enabled by a lack of ethics and accountability, a state audit concluded … Read More
AUSTIN – The official responsible for ensuring that the Texas health commission follows outsourcing laws instead helped the agency to break its own rules on a $110 million no-bid contract, according to a long-awaited audit released Thursday. The official, Arnold … Read More
Editor’s note: This story has been updated throughout. A scathing state investigative report of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission’s much-maligned $20 million contract for fraud tracking software has revealed “operational defects” within the agency’s procurement process. According to the report, … Read More
The former state official who brokered lucrative, no-bid deals with Austin tech company 21CT broke purchasing rules, ignored other possible vendors and worked to promote the company to agencies in Texas and other states, a state audit confirmed Thursday. The … 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
Two El Paso dental clinics are involved in a multimillion dollar lawsuit settlement.Smile Magic Dental Clinic was accused of defrauding Texas Medicaid. In March, they were ordered to pay $4.5 million to thestate as a settlement.Four offices were named in … Read More
A man is facing charges after police say he broke into the Office of the Inspector General. It’s employees who you expect to find inside the Office of the Inspector General. But last Sunday, police said it was Robert Burkhart … 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
AUSTIN – After months of downplaying his involvement in a no-bid state contract that collapsed in scandal last December, a former lobbyist for the company that got the deal is changing his story. The lobbyist, James Frinzi, acknowledged in a … Read More
March 17, 2015 — Four clinics of Texas’ Smile Magic chain have agreed to pay $4.5 million to settle Medicaid fraud charges. The whistleblower lawsuit claimed the clinics used paid recruiters to target parents in grocery store parking lots and … 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
AUSTIN — The Texas health commission’s new inspector general has brought with him a team of aides from the private sector, ushering in a new era of leadership at the embattled agency in charge of rooting out waste, fraud and … Read More
The new chief watchdog for the embattled Texas Health and Human Services Commission told lawmakers Monday he plans to right the department rocked by a contracting scandal by focusing not just on Medicaid and food stamp fraud, but all types … 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
AUSTIN – Two months after a massive no-bid contract erupted in scandal, eventually forcing four Texas health officials to resign, state senators finally got a chance Thursday to grill the first nominee that Gov. Greg Abbott has picked to help … 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
Three years ago, when the Texas Health and Human Services Commission wanted software that investigators in its Office of Inspector General could use to track down Medicaid fraud, it asked the federal government to foot most of the $20 million bill. In its … Read More
AUSTIN, TEXAS (Texas House of Representatives) – After Speaker Straus released committee assignments last Wednesday, Rep. Richard Peña Raymond, Chairman of the House Committee on Human Services, began work with his nine member committee setting the first hearing date for … 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
by Edgar Walters, The Texas Tribune Amid scrutiny of how the state’s largest health agency has awarded contracts to private vendors, state lawmakers said Wednesday they had “lost confidence” in the office of the agency that investigates fraud. At the Senate … 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
First the breakup, then the requisite division of property. Among the official belongings of Jack Stick, former general counsel for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, is one black leather executive chair — high-backed with a five-star wood capped … 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
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
On the eve of the semi-annual campaign finance reporting deadline, Gov.-elect Greg Abbott’s office confirmed he returned a $10,000 campaign contribution from the CEO of the beleaguered company at the center of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission contracting … Read More
The Sunset Commission took its final votes Wednesday on a body of all recommendations, including a 2,300-page rewrite of the health and human services code to align the code to both current practices and recommended changes at its related agencies. … Read More
Gov.-elect Greg Abbott has enlisted two state government veterans to quickly review contracting practices and oversight in Medicaid and social services programs. The incoming GOP chief executive asked former deputy comptroller Billy Hamilton and Agriculture Department financial officer Heather Griffith … Read More
An appellate court sided with the state in dismissing a whistleblower claim by a former government lawyer who alleged that his agency was improperly taking reimbursements from Medicaid recipients. F. Michael McMillen, a lawyer with more than 20 years of … Read More
Gov.-elect Greg Abbott will deploy an independent “strike force” to delve into the state’s beleaguered health agency, whose contracting with an Austin tech company is already the subject of a criminal investigation and inquiry by the state auditor. “In the … Read More
If Jack Stick could be any animal, he would be a liger. A cross-breed between a lion and a tiger might seem like a whimsical answer to the question posed in the 2011 job interview, just before he was hired … Read More
AUSTIN –Texas state health officials have decided not to release any more records about a controversial no-bid contract until a criminal investigation has been completed, reversing an earlier pledge to produce the public documents. Spokeswoman Stephanie Goodman told reporters this … Read More
A leading state senator says she will propose tougher safeguards against unethical behavior by those involved in awarding contracts to the private vendors who increasingly deliver medical care and social services to vulnerable Texans. Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, is … Read More
The chair of an influential legislative panel is calling for stronger rules to limit conflicts of interest in state contracting as well as increased oversight of major contracts like the multi-million-dollar no-bid deal awarded to Austin tech company 21CT. State … Read More
