Sunset Advisory Commissioners unanimously approved a series of changes to the troubled Division of Workers’ Compensation at the Texas Department of Insurance on Tuesday, but not before aggressively rewriting the Sunset staff’s original recommendations to improve the division’s medical quality review process.
Rafael Anchia
Posted in
State Government
Sunset Grill
Physician fraud investigators inside the troubled Division of Workers’ Compensation say state examiners failed to uncover serious problems there — and then recommended changes that would take key decisions away from trained physicians and give them to bureaucrats.
Posted inState Government
TribBlog: Voter ID Fight Ramping Up Again?
The issue that nearly derailed the 2009 session could be back in 2011, according to the chairman of the House Elections Committee.
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State Government
Here Comes the Sun
The state Division of Workers’ Compensation has uncovered “tens of millions of dollars in unnecessary medical care” in the last several years, but its commissioner failed to sanction the doctors involved, a key former employee told members of the Sunset Advisory Commission on Tuesday night.
Posted inState Government
Workers’ Comp Before Sunset
The stakeholders in the roiling controversy over enforcement problems at the Division of Workers’ Comp testify before state lawmakers on the Sunset Advisory Commission Tuesday night.
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Demographics
Guest Column: Against Arizona
The Arizona law misses the mark because it fails to address the underlying problems with our broken borders.
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State Government
Workers’ Comp: What’s Next?
Lawmakers are pledging to take a closer look at the Texas Department of Insurance’s Division of Workers’ Compensation in light of allegations by former employees that their higher-ups failed to sanction or remove dozens of doctors accused of overmedicating patients and overbilling insurers. The chairman of the House panel that oversees workers’ compensation says he’s planning a hearing on the matter this summer, and the chair of the Sunset Advisory Commission plans to question the division’s commissioner at a public hearing next week.
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Public Education
Heir Apparent
State Rep. Terri Hodge, D-Dallas, dropped her reelection bid on Wednesday to plead guilty to lying on a tax return. But it’s too early for Eric Johnson, her West Dallas-born, Ivy League-educated primary opponent, to claim victory.
Posted in
State Government
Seat Warmers?
Dallas County Republicans are jockeying for a chance to topple two freshman Democrats who seized House districts in 2008. The incumbent Dems — hoping to claim their first House majority in eight years — are girding for battle.
