CVS fires back at Texas regulators in $30 million Medicaid fraud case
CVS Pharmacy, accused by the state of Texas of defrauding Medicaid of $30.5 million, is suing the state Health and Human Services Commission, claiming state officials approved the billing practices at the heart of the fraud case, court records show.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in state District Court, echoes complaints made by dentists and orthodontists who were accused of billing the state for unnecessary procedures from 2007 to 2012, accusations that state investigators struggled to prove in court.
In those cases, Medicaid fraud investigators identified nearly 100 dentists and orthodontists who they said cheated taxpayers and compromised patients’ health, but the state routinely came up short in those legal battles, with dentists arguing that every Medicaid procedure they performed was first approved by a company hired and overseen by the state health commission.
In 2014, the health commission’s Office of Inspector General was being hammered by top lawmakers for that track record of failures. A new leader, Stuart Bowen, took over the inspector general’s office early last year.
Read more: http://www.mystatesman.com/news/cvs-fires-back-texas-regulators-million-medicaid-fraud-case/nBJeVr4X3r494wAvIA3EyJ/