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