Audit: Disabled youth program reveals scaled-back care, issues

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A new audit says Texas health officials aren’t doing enough to ensure youth and children with disabilities are getting appropriate access to care in its Medicaid managed program.

The San Antonio Express-News reports that the state’s Legislative Budget Board found that the number of children with disabilities receiving occupational and physical therapy declined by 13 percent in the months after Texas launched STAR Kids in 2016.

The program covers roughly 160,000 children and adults ages 20 and younger who have disabilities.