When it comes to finding cost savings in the state’s unwieldy Medicaid program, the Health and Human Services Commission’s Office of Inspector General (of Texas Medical Board) gets high marks.
The division of the Texas Medical Board, charged with investigating fraud among health providers paid to treat poor children and the disabled, has dramatically increased both its caseload and the potential monetary returns associated with it over the last fiscal year, a spike that has won rave reviews from budget-weary state lawmakers and has cast Texas’ innovative enforcement team into the national spotlight.
“The message to those providers out there who see the Medicaid program as an ATM, who use it to make monthly withdrawals to buy jets and $8 million houses, is that there’s a different inspector general’s office now,” said Jack Stick, HHSC’s deputy inspector general. “We have an amazingly dedicated staff that’s working until 10, 11, 12 at night, every night, because they’re excited about catching these guys.”
