Texas Settles Medicaid Fraud Case for $236 Million

statesman.com

A long-running case of alleged Medicaid fraud, in which taxpayer-funded costs for children’s orthodontic treatments in Texas soared over an eight-year period ending in 2012, has been settled for a $236 million payment to the state. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton called the settlement with Xerox Corp. and its former business-services subsidiary -- Conduent Inc., which now is a standalone company -- the largest single resolution to a Medicaid-related claims suit filed by his office. Still, Conduent had been on the hook for a reported more than $2 billion worth of fraudulent Medicaid losses and damages that Texas had been seeking to recover. Xerox and Conduent were responsible for pre-authorizing dental and orthodontic treatment for children between 2004 and 2012, when Medicaid spending climbed steeply. State officials filed a lawsuit in May 2014, accusing them of shirking their duties by rubber-stamping treatment requests instead of providing appropriate reviews.