New Mexico Health and Human Services Department in hot water

A New Mexico district judge has called for a full hearing regarding evidence the state's Human Services Department (HSD) brought against Easter Seals El Mirador, a nonprofit behavioral health provider based in Santa Fe, according to the Albuquerque Journal. The ruling indicates that the agency may have violated the due process rights of the hospital by sending a case back to the Attorney General's Office in 2014.

Easter Seals sued HSD in August to reclaim $671,000 in Medicaid reimbursements. In 2013, the agency froze Medicaid funding to 15 nonprofits, including Easter Seals, following an investigation into overbilling and potential fraud. Three weeks ago, the New Mexico Attorney General unsealed an audit of another behavioral health provider, Presbyterian Medical Services, which revealed $4 million in overbilling. However, others have raised questions about that audit. Article