A state senator wants the Texas auditor to review how a private firm was selected to operate a state psychiatric hospital in Terrell.
The request from state Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, is the second recent call for an audit of the way the Texas Health and Human Services Commission strikes a deal with a private contractor.
In a Jan. 7 letter, Nichols asked State Auditor John Keel to examine the commission’s award of a tentative contract to GEO Care LLC to operate the Terrell State Hospital (GEO Care’s name recently changed to Correct Care Solutions.) The hospital, one of 10 the state owns, was the subject of a federal investigation two years ago over the 2012 death of a patient.
Nichols’ letter follows the suspension of a separate, $110 million contract for Medicaid software. The commission has come under fire for awarding that deal to a relatively unknown company called 21 Century Technologies Inc., or 21CT.
via Texas Lawmaker Asks for Audit of Second Health Contract | The Texas Tribune.