OIG celebrates 20 years of protecting Texas HHS programs

Since 2004, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) has been providing oversight to Texas health and human services, uncovering fraud, waste and abuse, and protecting vulnerable Texans through investigations into employee and contractor behavior.

During the 78th Texas Legislative Session, the OIG was established as an oversight agency, replacing the Texas Health and Human Service’s Office of Investigations and Enforcements, consolidating the fraud and abuse functions that were spread across 12 HHS agencies. The legislature also included clear and objective standards intended to improve fraud detection and prevention among providers, clients, contractors and employees.

Since beginning operations in 2004, the OIG has evolved into a fully integrated, data-driven agency. The office employes skilled attorneys, auditors, data analysts, investigators and nurse reviewers that create algorithms, analyze results, investigate and successfully litigate cases. OIG advancements have improved the early detection of questionable behavior and industry-wide trends. In fiscal year 2023, OIG teams recovered $532 million in misspent tax dollars. Additionally, a continued focus on educating and collaborating with providers helps to prevent waste and wrongdoing from happening in the first place.

As the OIG enters its 20th year of operations, we honor all those who played a role in our past and the many conscientious public servants continuing the fight against fraud, waste and abuse today.