Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Texas Investigators Subpoena Planned Parenthood Records, Raid Clinics
Days after Texas health officials announced they want to kick Planned Parenthood out of the state Medicaid program, state investigators on Thursday visited Planned Parenthood facilities in San Antonio, Houston, Dallas and Brownsville. (Ura, 10/22)
Texas health investigators on Thursday served orders for hundreds of documents at Planned Parenthood offices across the state, including patient records and employee addresses. The move came three days after the state announced plans to pull public funding from the organization, energizing the national debate over the nonprofit’s fetal tissue donation program. (Paquette and Somashekhar, 10/22)
Health investigators served subpoenas seeking hundreds of pages of patient and staff records at Planned Parenthood clinics across Texas on Thursday, as officials move to halt Medicaid funding to the organization that has been repeatedly targeted by the state's top conservatives. Planned Parenthood said investigators visited clinics in Houston, Dallas and San Antonio, and a health center that does not provide abortions in Brownsville, on the Mexico border. They asked for patient health records and billing documents dating back to 2010, as well as personnel files that included the home addresses of staff members, Planned Parenthood said. (Weissert, 10/22)
Texas officials raided several Planned Parenthood facilities on Thursday, the group said, in a move that comes days after the state's Republicans leaders barred the women's health group from receiving state Medicaid money. The raids were carried out at Planned Parenthood health centers in Houston, Dallas and San Antonio by representatives from the Texas Office of the Inspector General. (Herskovitz, 10/22)
Texas officials showed up at Planned Parenthood offices in Houston, Dallas and San Antonio on Thursday with subpoenas to demand records and other materials. The visits followed Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's decision this week to drop Planned Parenthood from the state's Medicaid program and cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood affiliated clinics. (Gamboa, 10/22)
Texas health investigators visited Planned Parenthood facilities in four cities Thursday, serving subpoenas seeking hundreds of pages of patient and staff records, as well as records related to fetal tissue donations. The visits came three days after state officials announced Planned Parenthood clinics would no longer receive Medicaid funding following the release of undercover videos that featured discussions about fetal tissue. At the time, officials sent a letter to Planned Parenthood affiliates saying the clinics were potentially "liable, directly or by affiliation, for a series of serious Medicaid program violations" highlighted in the videos. (10/23)
And, expect more Planned Parenthood videos as the unedited footage handed over to Congress is leaked and a blogger and hacker team up to release sealed videos -
Complete raw footage from the Planned Parenthood videos surfaced Thursday on the conservative website Got News?, whose editor said he had gotten it from a House staffer despite lawmakers’ pledge to keep it confidential. (Cook, 10/22)
A controversial blogger and an infamous Internet hacker have teamed up to release hours of covertly filmed videos targeting Planned Parenthood officials and affiliates. The videos, which were filmed by anti-abortion activist David Daleiden and partially released this summer, had been sealed under a temporary restraining order issued by a federal judge. (Miller, 10/23)