Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced in a press release that his office had won back over $230 million in taxpayer dollars in a settlement with Xerox and its derivatives.
From January 2004 to March 2012, Xerox and its derivative businesses had been hired by the State of Texas to review, and either approve or deny all requests for orthodontic services by Medicaid providers. In April 2012, the Attorney General’s Office launched an investigation into the company’s review process, and a lawsuit was filed after it was determined that the company had “violated its responsibilities” because employees hadn’t conducted a thorough review, with “qualified clinical personnel” involved, of all requests submitted to them by Medicare providers.
“Misconduct by employees of Xerox and its related companies compromised the integrity of the Medicaid program – the very program Texas hired the Xerox defendants to safeguard through the administration of a proper prior authorization review,” Paxton stated in the press release. He went on to praise the settlement as a victory for Texas taxpayers who had to pay Xerox for its poor performance as well as possibly funding far more Medicare bills than they needed to.
This is one of many victories for taxpayers by the AG’s Civil Medicaid Fraud Division, who for nearly 19 years has recovered nearly $2 billion for the taxpayers.
The AG’s office is still litigating “against dental and orthodontic providers” who are alleged to have also committed violations under the Texas Medicaid Fraud Prevention Act.
