Texas House Speaker Joe Straus calls for investigation into state health agency contracting

[TexasTowelie]

by Marissa Evans, Texas Tribune


Texas House Speaker Joe Straus is calling on House members to investigate the Texas Health and Human Services Commission after a state audit report revealed mishandling of a contract with a health insurance company.

The State Auditor’s Office released a 44-page report this week showing the Health and Human Services Commission allowed Superior HealthPlan, Inc., a health insurance company, to report $29.6 million in bonus and incentive payments paid to medical providers' employees, even though those payments were not allowed under its contract with the state.

Straus, a San Antonio Republican, said in a Wednesday news release that the House Appropriations Committee or the General Investigating and Ethics Committee should look into the Health and Human Services Commission’s practices for contract oversight as “taxpayers need to know that their money is being properly managed."

“This audit highlights serious weaknesses in HHSC’s oversight of its own contracts,” Straus said. “Taxpayers have a right to expect that the Commission will hold providers to contract requirements. Unfortunately, this isn’t the first example of HHSC failing to properly enforce requirements in taxpayer-funded contracts. This audit shows that there is a lot of room for improvement at HHSC.”

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2018/01/31/house-speaker-joe-straus-calls-investigation-over-health-agency-contra/