Planned Parenthood deadline extended,
State orders Texas offices to deliver Medicaid records.
Planned Parenthood offices across Texas, facing a Friday deadline to hand over records to state investigators, were given a week extension.
Officials from the Office of the Inspector General within the state’s Health and Human Services Commission visited Planned Parenthood affiliates on Thursday and ordered them to deliver Medicaid client records and employee information dating back to 2010. The facilities were given 24 hours to comply, but they now have until next Friday, according to Planned Parenthood.
Stuart Bowen Jr., inspector general for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, said Friday that the state is no longer seeking employee information.
“We will continue to be flexible with each office,” he said and added that the Planned Parenthood affiliates have been “very professional and extraordinarily responsive.”
Bowen said there is past evidence of fraud by Planned Parenthood in Texas, and a whistleblower who formerly worked at Planned Parenthood has come forward with allegations of additional fraud.
Ken Lambrecht, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas, called the state’s action, “Texas politics at its absolute worst,” and said the organization is feeling “unprecedented levels of harassment and intimidation by government officials.”
“We will make every effort to comply with the state’s ongoing requests but see them as an excuse to take health care away from thousands of women and men who rely on Planned Parenthood for preventive care,” Lambrecht said Friday in a statement.
Lambrecht said that protecting the confidentiality of Planned Parenthood’s patients and employees is “paramount” and the organization intends “to ensure their confidentiality as we cooperate with the state’s request.”
Bowen said the agency will fully comply with all federal privacy regulations.
“Preserving privacy is an essential element in any oversight process,” he said.
In a letter accompanying the subpoenas, Health and Human Services Commission investigators said they had authority to examine allegations of potential fraud involving Medicaid payments.
Planned Parenthood officials said Thursday that they comply with every state and federal regulation and that no government money has been spent on abortions.
Thursday’s action came three days after state health officials moved to drop Planned Parenthood as a Medicaid health care provider over undercover videos depicting the organization’s fetal tissue practices.
Planned Parenthood’s Texas affiliates received $3.1 million from Medicaid in the fiscal year that ended Aug. 31, state numbers showed. Because 90 percent of the money came from the federal government, Texas accounted for almost $310,000 of that total.
The organization said it provided health care to almost 13,000 low-income Texans under Medicaid in 2014, including cancer screenings, HIV tests and contraceptives.