August 29, 2014 — In the latest development in the ongoing Texas Medicaid scandal, the state Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) has filed a second lawsuit against Xerox, claiming the company is refusing to turn over patient records.
Without the documents, the state is out of compliance with federal regulations and at risk of incurring "massive federal fines," according to an HHSC statement.
The commission terminated the company’s Medicaid claims administration contract in May, saying Xerox staff approved thousands of requests for orthodontic procedures that were not medically necessary. The Texas attorney general also filed a suit to recover millions of dollars for the work.
“Xerox has chosen to put information of Medicaid clients at risk and force the state to take court action to protect those records.”
— Kyle Janek, MD, executive commissioner, Texas Health and Human Services Commission
"Xerox has chosen to put information of Medicaid clients at risk and force the state to take court action to protect those records," said HHSC Commissioner Kyle Janek, MD.
The suit was filed August 26 in Travis County District Court seeking the immediate return of the data. HHSC transferred the Medicaid contract to a new vendor on August 1.
The transfer was done "with complete transparency and with the full knowledge and participation of the Health and Human Services Commission," Xerox stated in an email response to DrBicuspid.com.
"The retention of property includes Xerox material such as computer monitors, televisions, human resource files, internal financial records, and Xerox-branded collateral and posters, while the data represent proprietary Xerox information and was retained with the state’s knowledge who declined repeated opportunities to review the material," the company added.
via Texas files another lawsuit against Xerox in Medicaid scandal.