Texas health officials violated state law when they said they would award a multibillion dollar series of health insurance contracts to for-profit companies while overlooking nonprofit health plans, a lawsuit brought by two nonprofit health insurers alleges. Up for grabs … Read More
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission was hit with a $1.6 million fine for violating federal privacy and security rules. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights imposed the civil money penalty after … Read More
Last night, Texas State Medicaid Director, Stephanie Muth, announced that she would be stepping down from her position in the agency. Muth began her career in Texas government nearly 20 years ago as a Legislative Aide in the Texas House … Read More
Health insurers Anthem, Cigna Corp. and Molina Healthcare stand to lose millions in premium revenue after losing ground in the Texas Medicaid Star+Plus program, a managed care program worth nearly $10 billion in premium revenue for managed care organizations. The … Read More
AUSTIN – Texas Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Dr. Courtney N. Phillips today announced key additions to HHSC’s leadership team who will help guide the agency’s health programs and communications efforts. “These three individuals bring tremendous strength, knowledge and … Read More
AUSTIN – The Texas Health and Human Services Commission has been notified by the federal government that up to $3.87 billion in funds will be available for Texas each year for the next three years to help reimburse health care … Read More
AUSTIN — A Texas appeals court has dismissed a whistleblower’s lawsuit against the Texas Health and Human Services Commission filed by a former employee who alleged he was fired in retaliation for expressing concern over alleged state law violations and … Read More
We came across this PDF of a presentation recently done for the House County Affairs Committee by Dr. Courtney Phillips, the Executive Commissioner of Texas Health and Human Services. The presentation is an excellent overview of the agency with current … Read More
This morning Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that the State of Texas had settled its $2 billion Medicaid fraud lawsuit against Xerox/Conduent, its former Medicaid administrator from 2004 to 2012, for $235 million. The settlement over Xerox/Conduent’s inadequate orthodontic prior authorization … Read More
A Texas lawmaker has authored a bill that would require photographs and names on Lone Star cards to help fight fraud. Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) filed HB 1250 on Jan. 31. The bill requires that the name and photograph of the … Read More
Texas Health and Human Services is accepting comments from stakeholders on the following proposed rules. The comment period ends February 10, 2019. Department of State Health Services 25 TAC, Part 1, Chapter 289, Radiation Control Interested parties can participate by: … Read More
A group of home health agencies is suing the Texas Health and Human Service Commission (HHSC) for allegedly halting reimbursements for telemonitoring services. The agencies claim they will go out of business and deprive Texans of necessary care if the … Read More
HHS has published the 12th edition of a reference guide for Texas Medicaid and CHIP, commonly known as the Pink Book. The new version that has under gone a complete redesign is posted here.
In the same Xerox/Conduent court filing from July 2018 mentioned in our previous article, there is another exhibit worth mentioning. It is the complete email chain involving HHSC OIG officials discussing OIG investigator Ray Acuña’s meeting notes on the Xerox/Conduent … Read More
The State Medicaid Managed Care Advisory Committee of HHSC is holding a public meeting in Austin on December 12. Here is the information: December 12, 2018 – 1:00pm Health and Human Services Commission, Brown-Heatly Building, Public Hearing Room 4900 North … Read More
An anti-abortion group that continuously failed to provide reproductive health services to the number of patients it told the state it could is getting its contracts terminated — and is facing an investigation by Texas’ health agency over questionable billing. … Read More
UPDATE: We’ve added below an additional HHSC presentation given to the House Committee on General Investigating & Ethics which gives further details of MCO contract management. This morning HHSC sent out a notice that it was looking for public comments … Read More
An anti-abortion group that continuously failed to provide reproductive health services to the number of patients it told the state it could is getting its contracts terminated — and is facing an investigation by Texas’ health agency over questionable billing. … Read More
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHCS) recently published its “Rider Report 61,” a review of Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) managed care contracts commissioned by the legislature. The report aims to be a comprehensive assessment of … Read More
UPDATE: Christine Mann, the Press Officer at HHSC, has informed us that new RFP is out as of yesterday. The information is below and is available at http://www.txsmartbuy.com/sp/HHS0002879 Medicaid CHIP Dental Status: Addendum Posted Solicitation ID: HHS0002879 Response Due Date: 11/30/2018 Response Due Time: 2:00 PM Agency … Read More
In the last edition of TDA Today, the Texas Dental Association goes to bat for dental Medicaid providers on two issues. First, the publication reported that the TDA’s Council on Public Health and Access to Care met with HHSC (HHSC, … Read More
You just found out about this? So did we. Just learned of it TDMR learned of it about 10 days ago when a provider gave us a copy of a letter they received from DentaQuest dated July 27 but received … Read More
Gov. Greg Abbott has tapped Courtney Phillips, the head of Nebraska’s health department, to lead Texas’ state health agency, effective Oct. 19. Phillips, the chief executive officer of the Nebraska Department of Health & Human Services since 2015, replaces Charles … Read More
We have closed our revised 2018 Dental Management Organization annual survey and are today giving you the results. Our survey sample is not that large, unfortunately. At the end of the day, only 39 providers entered the survey as we … Read More
