Whistleblower Vanessa Sivadge testified in a Texas Senate hearing on Medicaid oversight last week, urging members of the Health and Human Services committee to investigate Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH) for committing Medicaid fraud.
A former endocrinology nurse at TCH, Sivadge observed some patients diagnosed with gender dysphoria paid for opposite-sex hormone treatments with the hospital’s Medicaid plan.
Texas Medicaid and Medicare don’t pay for “sex changes” or opposite-sex hormones.
Sivadge shared her concerns at the hearing, which invited experts and members of the public to recommend ways Texas lawmakers could reduce Medicaid fraud, waste and abuse.
“The hospital’s transgender program treated patients for gender dysphoria solely with puberty-blocking and sex-change hormones that are not covered by Texas Medicaid,” Sivadge told the senators. “But the hospital billed for them using false diagnoses for other disorders that the patients did not have.”
These alleged frauds include a TCH doctor diagnosing a gender-confused woman with testosterone deficiency and hypogonadism to get Medicaid to pay for her testosterone injections.
This incident inspired U.S. Representatives Pete Sessions (TX), chairman of the House subcommittee on Government Operations and the Federal Workforce, and Lisa McClain (MI), chairwoman of the House subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services, to launch a joint federal probe into TCH for Medicaid fraud.
One of the doctors Sivadge accused of fraud, Richard Roberts, admitted he had “a significant number of patients” on Medicaid in a sworn affidavit opposing Texas SB 14 — the law preventing doctors from performing transgender medical interventions on minors.
After presenting her account, Sivadge called on the Health and Human Services committee to investigate TCH’s Medicaid fraud and pass legislation mandating patients’ biological sex, rather than their gender identity, be listed on all medical records.
She also asked the committee to better protect whistleblowers like her.
The law protects people from corporate and government wrongdoing. But those protections didn’t shield Sivadge from being fired.
“On August 16, Texas Children’s Hospital fired me in retaliation for blowing the whistle on Medicaid fraud,” she recounted, providing emails showing the hospital also “illegally disregarded [Sivadge’s] request to transfer due to [her] religious beliefs that [transgender medical] procedures bring irreversible harm and lifelong regret to children confused about their sex.”
She asked the senators to pass legislation mandating hospitals educate staff on their right to make conscientious and religious objections and request relief.
The committee seemed to respond positively to Sivadge’s account. Both Chairwoman Lois W. Kolkhurst and Senator Kevin Sparks commended Sivadge for her courage in the face of adversity.
The senators also asked questions about the size and scope of the problem.
Kolkhurst asked whether Sivadge worked with other doctors and nurses who felt scared to come forward, to which Sivadge replied, “Absolutely.” She expounded:
Sparks wondered whether Medicaid fraud had continued after TCH stopped performing transgender medical interventions on minors. Sivadge thinks it has.
“The hospital is still seeing patients over the age of eighteen since that is not illegal,” she explained, “and I do believe the fraud is also happening there.”
Sivadge and her family continue to pay a high cost for her unwillingness to aid and abet harmful transgender medical procedures. Please continue to pray for her strength and protection in the challenging times ahead.
To learn more about how you can help Sivadge combat her wrongful termination in court, consider visiting her GiveSendGo page here.
This is a developing story. The Daily Citizen will continue to publish updates.
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UPDATE: Texas Children’s Hospital Fires Nurse Accusing It of Medicaid Fraud
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