The Texas Health and Human Services Commission sent an email this month to 552 school districts statewide informing officials they would need to pay anywhere from $100 to $800,000 back to the department for services billed in 2011. The charges stem from a 2017 federal health agency audit that found Texas had improperly billed the agency 238 times for services under the School Health and Related Services program
The SHARS program reimburses schools for providing services to Medicaid-eligible students, including mental and physical therapy, nursing and screenings. Almost 950 of the state’s more than 1,200 school districts are currently enrolled in SHARS programming, according to the Texas Association of School Boards.
The 238 errors the federal government identified were for services that were deemed ineligible for reimbursement. The Inspector General’s Office also found over 94% of the services billed — including some that were eligible — did not have the required documentation.
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