Texas Border Business
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has announced that, in fiscal year 2023, the Office of the Attorney General (“OAG”) recovered more than $200 million from entities and individuals who defrauded the Texas Medicaid system or were accused of doing so. The OAG’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (“MFCU”) and Civil Medicaid Fraud Division released the findings in a joint annual report with the Texas Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General.
In 2023, the OAG returned to the state over $203 million in remedies, penalties, and fines as a result of its investigations and settlements. Additionally, MFCU obtained 79 indictments and 61 convictions averaging 4.6 years on various Medicaid fraud charges. In one instance, a pharmacy owner was sentenced to more than 17 years in federal prison for participating in a fraudulent opioid pill mill scheme involving diverted narcotics and fake prescriptions billed to government health care programs. MFCU also identified over $124 million in Medicaid overpayments.
Attorney General Paxton continues to pursue major Medicaid fraud cases. Ongoing cases include a lawsuit against Pfizer and Tris Pharma for providing adulterated drugs to children and making related misrepresentations to the Texas Medicaid program. Additionally, Texas has filed suit alleging that Gilead Sciences engaged in unlawful marketing ploys to incentivize medical providers to prescribe its drugs over competing medications.
To read the year-end report, click here.
