The Health and Human Services Commission ruled Monday that it followed state contracting rules when it doled out a $68 million technology deal in September and that it doesn’t have to rebid the job. Deputy Executive Commissioner Ron Pigott dismissed … Read More
Gary Jessee, a 20-year veteran of state service, will be Texas’ new state Medicaid director, Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Chris Traylor announced Oct. 30. Jessee, who has served three years as the Medicaid/CHIP Division’s chief deputy director for … Read More
Texas officials are giving up on recovering most of the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on questionable Medicaid dental and orthodontic procedures. After years of an ongoing scandal over fraudulent billing and courtroom losses, the commission that oversees Medicaid … Read More
Stuart Bowen, the inspector general of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, told The Dallas Morning News that a whistleblower alleging Medicaid fraud at Texas Planned Parenthood clinics spurred the agency’s investigation. The Daily Signal previously reported that inspectors from the … Read More
The editorial board of the Austin American Statesman has called the decision by Texas “lawmakers and state officials” to investigate Planned Parenthood for Medicaid fraud part of a “witch hunt” that won’t stop until the health care provider “is completely dismantled … Read More
The Governor of the State of Texas said he hopes Planned Parenthood files legal action against their move to cut off Medicaid funding to the abortion biz so he can put their officials under oath. Newly-elected Governor Greg Abbot told … Read More
The Obama administration has warned state officials that pushing Planned Parenthood out of the state’s Medicaid program could put Texas at odds with federal law. Officials with the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services contacted the state Medicaid director on Tuesday … Read More
Texas health officials have asked an appeals court for permission to proceed with cutting payments to a therapy program for children with disabilities — the latest development in an ongoing lawsuit over the budget state lawmakers crafted this year. The … Read More
The top manager of the teacher’s pension fund received more than $2.2 million on top of his $504,000 a year salary. A lawyer making $153,000 a year at the General Land Office took home an extra $147,000. The Department of … Read More
Earlier this month, the Attorney Generals of Illinois and Arkansas announced the arrest and/or conviction of three individuals in different cases for Medicaid fraud. Going to jail for $1,000 The amounts of the fraud involved were around $1,000 per party … Read More
Texas was within eight days of slashing the amount of money it pays therapists for poor and disabled children when a state district judge last month stepped in and blocked the move. It was the latest round in a high-profile … Read More
Last Friday, the Health and Human Services Commission sent out a notice that it had “updated its Medicaid Medical and Dental Policy web page by posting stakeholder comments and HHSC responses for the THSteps Diagnostic Dental Services policy in development.” … Read More
Jack Stick says he’s “the whipping boy,” the guy who became the face of the 21CT contract scandal as Texas officials pointed fingers and scrambled to save their own jobs. “I think in December of last year, people began to … Read More
Following an outcry from dozens of state lawmakers, Texas’ top health agency announced Thursday it will make less drastic cuts than originally planned to a therapy program for children with disabilities, even if that means spending more than lawmakers budgeted for the … Read More
Former Texas health official Jack Stick tried to persuade dozens of other states to buy Austin technology company 21CT’s Medicaid fraud detection system even as he privately complained that the results it produced for Texas were worth “a bucket of … Read More
Jack Stick, a former state official at the center of a contracting scandal at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, on Friday received a sentence of six days in jail and 90 days without a driver’s license for a … Read More
A Travis County judge has temporarily blocked the state from reducing funding for a Medicaid-backed therapy program for thousands of Texas kids with special needs, ruling on Tuesday that there was enough reason to believe the Texas Health and Human … Read More
Former Texas health commission lawyer Jack Stick, found guilty Monday of driving while intoxicated, will be sentenced within the next two weeks, but no final date has been set, Travis County court officials said Tuesday. The former state representative and … Read More
AUSTIN – Texas officials are giving up on getting medical providers to repay hundreds of millions of dollars in Medicaid funding that the state for years has said was fraudulently billed for questionable dental and orthodontic procedures. After a series of … Read More
UPDATE: Stick has been sentenced to six days in jail. The man who famously carried a toy stuffed wolf into informal resolution meetings with Medicaid providers and quipped that he could “find a program violation on Jesus Christ” if Jesus … Read More
A Travis County jury on Monday convicted former state representative and Texas Health and Human Services general counsel Jack Stick of drunken driving, the latest chapter in year of problems for the former prosecutor and state lawmaker. Stick, 49, was … Read More
The top watchdog of Medicaid and other federal entitlement programs in Texas has identified more than $100 million in possible fraud and waste this fiscal year, according to the first report to the governor after years of public failures and … Read More
As reported last week by the Austin American Statesman, Stuart Bowen, the new Inspector General for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, is sending his first report to the Governor today. TDMR has obtained a copy of the full … Read More
AUSTIN — Nearly three years after police pulled over a then-powerful Texas state official on suspicion of drunk driving, prosecutors are finally getting a chance to prove their case. Source: Controversial former state official’s drunk driving trial begins
Before Jack Stick resigned as chief counsel for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission amid one of the biggest political scandals in 2014, the former state representative was fighting a charge in Travis County court for driving while intoxicated. … Read More
The recent decision by a Travis County District Court judge that again vindicated Antoine Dental Center of Houston on allegations of Medicaid fraud and vacated a three-year “credible allegation of fraud” payment hold has been appealed by the Civil Medicaid … Read More
Back in May of 2014, the State of Texas terminated Xerox as the state’s Medicaid claims administrator and filed suit against the company. The state is seeking recompense for hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars paid out by the company for … Read More
The Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) is asking for comments on a proposed new advisory committee structure. In response to Sunset legislation approved during the most recent legislative session, HHSC conducted a comprehensive analysis of 132 existing advisory committees. This … Read More
The chief operating officer of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission announced Monday that he will be stepping down to return to the private sector. John Scott, who has served in the role since January, was credited as the … Read More
Bryan Black is the new press officer for the Office of Communications. He joins HHSC following his service as the communications director at the Texas Department of Agriculture. During Black’s tenure at TDA, he transformed the department into a premier … Read More
AUSTIN – Texas Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Chris Traylor today announced John Scott is stepping down as chief operating officer of The Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC). Scott joined HHSC in January, where he served as the … Read More
AUSTIN — A lawsuit that sought to block deep cuts in what Medicaid pays for disabled children and poor elderly Texans’ therapies has delayed the rate changes for a month but otherwise forced no change in the state’s plans. On … Read More
A McAllen area doctor accused in June of filing fraudulent Medicare claims involving deceased patients faces new charges after he continued to file false claims, federal investigators said. Source: Doctor accused of filing claims for dead patients faces new charges … Read More
The Health and Human Services Commission has just put online proposed changes to the THSteps Diagnostic Dental Services Policy and is requesting stakeholder feedback on the changes. The updated policy will require the use of a professionally developed and … Read More
A district court judge on Wednesday handed state Medicaid regulators another decisive courtroom loss, adding one more notch to the Health and Human Service Commission’s Office of Inspector General’s unenviable losing streak pursuing dentists and orthodontists it claims have bilked … Read More
Home health agencies providing pediatric therapy services, along with the mothers of five children in Travis and Williamson counties, turned to the courts Tuesday to stop Texas officials from imposing program cuts totaling $350 million.Most of those receiving the speech, … Read More
UPDATE, August 11, 2015: We have been informed by a very keen-eyed and interested observer that the definition of “physician” under the Social Security Act includes dentists. So we are not sure why the Texas Health and Human Services Commission … Read More
A name familiar to many Medicaid dentists who have felt the sting of Doug Wilson and Jack Stick’s Office of Inspector General in the last few years has resigned, per the Texas Tribune. Cody Cazares, an aide to former Health … Read More
Months after he was put on paid administrative leave amid an investigation into the Texas Health and Human Services Commission’s contracting procedures, Cody Cazares, the former chief of staff to the commission’s top lawyer, has left the agency. Cazares, the former chief … Read More
In January, Stuart Bowen took charge of a state office rocked by accusations of corruption, incompetence and inefficiency. Responsible for ferreting out fraud amid the programs and procedures of the sprawling Health and Human Services Commission, the office of Inspector General … Read More
