On August 13, the Medicaid Managed Care Advisory Committee met with Dr. Henry Chu attending.
Legislation for medical review of denials doesn’t include dental
Dr. Chu told us that a new bill passed by the legislature, SB 1207, requires independent medical review related to an appeal for denial of treatment. He found out that, unfortunately, dental was not included.
Per the agenda, this is:
Implement the independent external medical reviewer required by SB 1207, 86th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, 2019. The independent external medical reviewer will conduct external medical reviews of the resolution of a Medicaid recipient appeal related to a reduction in or denial of services, or a denial by HHSC of eligibility for Medicaid programs where eligibility is based on medical and functional need.
Raise your voice
Dr. Chu suggested that concerned dental providers should contact their House representatives (fiind them here) on the matter.
However, we also suggest that you use the legislative website to send communications directly to the following:
Rep. Richard Pena Raymond, Chair of the House Human Services Committee. LInk to Form
Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, Chair of the Senate Committee on Health & Human Services. Link to Form
Marguerite Laccabue, DDS, MPH, Dental Director of the Office of the Medical Director at Texas Health and Human Services. Marguerite.Laccabue@hhsc.state.tx.us
New email for Dr. Chu
For those wanting to contact Dr. Chu, he has a new email address – hchu0101@gmail.com.
I was on that committee 5 years ago and they never addressed anything dental related so Dr Chu had false expectations.
Interesting.