Setting up the next legal battle over Planned Parenthood's involvement in the Texas Medicaid Program, the state's Health and Human Services Commission on Tuesday notified the reproductive health care provider that it would kick out all its affiliates from the program that largely serves poor women.
In a final notice of termination, dated Dec. 20, the commission's Office of the Inspector General said that the group is "not qualified to provide medical services in a professionally competent, safe, legal, and ethical manner under the relevant provisions of state and federal law pertaining to Medicaid providers."
The letter cites an undercover video by the Center for Medical Progress, which purports to show employees of Planned Parenthood's Houston office discussing the procurement of fetal tissue. "These practices violate accepted medical standards... and are Medicaid program violations that justify termination," according to the letter from Inspector General Stuart Bowen, Jr.
He accused Planned Parenthood of allowing doctors to "alter procedures to obtain targeted tissue samples needed for their specific outside research."
Planned Parenthood consistently has denied they engage in such practices. "Planned Parenthood never has and never would sell fetal tissue for profit," the group said in a statement. "Planned Parenthood has been already cleared by 13 state investigations and an additional eight states declined to even investigate. The state of Texas is once again recycling these false accusations."
Representatives from the health commission did not return requests for comment late Tuesday.
Each year, Planned Parenthood's Houston-based offices see more than 5,000 Medicaid patients who are low-income or have no health insurance, and that number stands at more than 12,000 patients at their statewide affiliates. "Already, tens of thousands of people are going without birth control, cancer screenings, HIV tests, and other care because of the state's draconian cuts, year after year, to preventive family planning. Women have lost access to affordable and effective birth control and the maternal mortality rate continues to rise," said Melaney Linton, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, which is based in Houston.
"Yet (Gov.) Greg Abbott and his political associates in Austin," she added, " continue to hurt low-income and uninsured Texas women. Rest assured this is not over. Planned Parenthood will never stop fighting to protect access to health care."
The final termination letter came 14 months after an earlier notice that, in addition to the covert video, cited "reliable information indicating a pattern of illegal billing practices" by Planned Parenthood as grounds for its explusion. Tuesday's letter, however, did not include any allegations of Medicaid billing fraud.
After it received the first letter, Planned Parenthood sought a restraining order in federal court on behalf of their patients, but state attorneys defending the health commission argued that first letter, sent in October 2015, was not a final termination notice, so Planned Parenthood's request, at that point, was null.
The judge said the state would need to issue a final letter before the lawsuit could proceed, but Texas health officials left the issue alone for more than a year. In the wake of the latest notice , Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Rochelle Tafolla said the group would bypass an administrative hearing with the agency and instead will return to federal court to halt the state's action.
In September, a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals three-judge panel upheld a lower court injunction stopping a similar attempt by Lousiana Republicans to oust Planned Parenthood from that state's Medicaid program.
The court's decision mirrored an Obama administration warning
to Texas leaders last year that following through with a plan to kick out Planned Parenthood could run afoul of federal law.
"Longstanding Medicaid law prohibits states from restricting individuals with Medicaid coverage from receiving their care from any qualified provider," a statement from the federal Department of Health and Human Services said. "Every year, millions of women benefit from critical preventive services, such as cancer screenings, that Planned Parenthood provides. State efforts to restrict women from using qualified providers puts these important health care services at risk.
(c)2016 the Houston Chronicle
