Texas women who receive state-financed health services may be able to more easily access contraceptive products like intrauterine devices and hormonal implants beginning Friday, when rule changes to the state’s Medicaid program and the Texas Women’s Health Program go into effect.
Medicaid
Posted in
Health care
Texas Sees Rise in Medicaid Signups
More than 80,000 additional Texans have enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program since the rollout of the Affordable Care Act last fall, despite Republican state leaders’ decision not to expand eligibility.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Cost of New Hepatitis Drug Raises Questions About Equal Access
A new treatment for hepatitis C is considered a breakthrough for people with the liver disease. But the high cost of the drug has complicated efforts to get the medication to Texans who receive government-subsidized health care.
Posted in
Health care
Nurse Practitioners Say That Greater Autonomy Would Cure Challenges
Nurse practitioners say state regulations, which link them to supervising physicians, limit their ability to treat patients in a state with a looming shortage of primary care physicians.
Posted in
Health care
Texas Cancels Medicaid Contract, Sues Xerox Over Allegedly Misspent Money
Health officials canceled a multi-million-dollar contract with Xerox, and the state sued the contractor on Friday amid allegations it erroneously doled out hundreds of millions of dollars for medically unnecessary Medicaid claims.
Posted in
Health care
State Faces Tough Task Getting Former Foster Youth Health Coverage
A little-known provision of the Affordable Care Act grants certain young adults who were formerly in foster care extended health coverage through Medicaid until they turn 26. But locating and enrolling them could prove tough.
Posted in
Health care
When is a State Contract Too Big to Fail?
While health officials have repeatedly raised concerns with a state contractor for its role in opening the door to a massive Medicaid fraud scheme, they have not severed its multiyear contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Posted in
Health care
Animation: Straightening Out Texas Medicaid
In 2010, Texas spent more on Medicaid orthodontic services than the nation’s nine other most populous states combined. Now, state investigators are on a mission to reclaim hundreds of millions of misspent Medicaid dollars. So, how’d the state get in this mess in the first place?
Posted in
Health care
Company That Approved Unnecessary Orthodontia Kept Its State Contract
While dental providers accused of overbilling Texas’ Medicaid program by hundreds of millions of dollars remain in legal limbo, the contractor that approved the procedures is still being paid more than $100 million annually by the state.
Posted in
Health care
Medicare Data Shines Light on Billions Paid to Texas Doctors
Texas doctors who treat Medicare patients earned a combined $4.6 billion from the federal insurer of the elderly in 2012, with the state’s ophthalmologists and oncologists raking in the most.
