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House Bill 2379 |
House Author: Price et al. |
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Effective: 5-29-17 |
Senate Sponsor: Hinojosa |
House Bill 2379 amends the Government Code to require the office of inspector general of the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to conduct audits and inspections of fraud, waste, and abuse in the provision and delivery of Medicaid and other health and human services independent of HHSC and the executive commissioner of HHSC, subject to certain exceptions, and to clarify certain reporting requirements relating to such an inspection. The bill establishes that the chief counsel for HHSC is the final authority for all legal interpretations related to statutes, rules, and HHSC policy on programs administered by HHSC and limits the legal services for which the executive commissioner is responsible for performing for the office. The bill, among other provisions, gives HHSC the option to use other technology in addition to learning or neural network technology to identify and deter Medicaid fraud and revises the procedures for providing notice of and recovering payments made as a result of fraud and abuse in Medicaid or the child health plan program.