Texas HEART

History of Texas HEART and STARLink

The Health and Human Services Commission contract with Texas HEART ended on September 1, 2007. Rather than renew the contract, the State moved the program in-house where it operates under the Office of the Ombudsman as the Medicaid Managed Care Helpline. Information about the Medicaid Managed Care Helpline is available at http://www.hhs.state.tx.us/OMB/MMCH.shtml.

Incorporated as a non-profit organization in 1999, Texas HEART was designed to promote access to health and human services for Texans and to improve communication between providers and consumers. From January 2001 until September 2007, Texas HEART operated STARLink, the Medicaid managed care helpline under contract with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.

• STARLink provided a statewide, toll-free helpline to assist Texas Medicaid managed care consumers with urgent medical needs who were experiencing barriers to receiving health and long term care services.
• STARLink intervened promptly with the state Medicaid office, managed care organizations, providers and any other appropriate entity to help callers with urgent medical needs get the services they needed.
• STARLink educated persons about their rights and responsibilities under Medicaid managed care, including grievance and appeal procedures, so they were able to advocate for themselves.
• STARLink collected statistical information regarding calls received by the assistance lines, published quarterly reports that identified trends, and helped Medicaid managed care agencies identify and correct problems.

STARLink's many success stories attest to the important services it provided.