August 26, 2015      5:55 PM
Update: Plaintiffs against HHSC in Medicaid dispute call the state's courtroom tactics into question
“… before the ink dried on the court order to dismiss the case, the Commission is moving ‘full steam ahead’ with plans to radically cut reimbursement rates."
Following
a court hearing Wednesday morning in which advocates for disabled children
briefly thought they had won a victory in a fight against deep cuts to Medicaid
services in Texas, they learned just hours later that the Health and Human Services
Commission plans to continue to move ahead with the cuts as had been
originally proposed.
“The
Health and Human Services Commission plans to move forward with implementing
the full Medicaid therapy rate reductions – a directive that was passed by the
legislature,” said HHSC spokesman Bryan Black. “HHSC
attempted to reach a settlement with the plaintiffs that would have required Legislative
Budget Board approval. Those attempts were rejected by the plaintiffs.”
That
statement was made after a Travis County judge dismissed the case because the two sides were said to have reached an agreement. Given what had just happened in
court, an attorney for the plaintiffs seemed surprised to hear what the agency is
now planning to do.
“The
state said in court that it would go through careful methodology to come up
with a new rate cut proposal. Apparently that only takes a few hours,” attorney
Dan Richards said. “Despite that
Herculean effort by the state, the access to care issues remain just as real
this afternoon as it was this morning."
The
head of a trade association for providers of the medically necessary therapies
went further.
By Scott Braddock
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