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Texas social services chief Chris Traylor has assured Senate GOP leaders that he gets their message — he’ll squeeze as much savings as he can out of Medicaid spending on therapy but won’t hurt disabled children’s access to services. Responding a day after they told him publicly not to cut rates so deeply that therapy providers drop out of Medicaid, Health and Human Services Commission chief Chris Traylor wrote Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Sen. Jane Nelson on Thursday to say he reads them loud and clear. (Garrett, 10/1)

Following an outcry from dozens of state lawmakers, Texas’ top health agency announced Thursday it will make less drastic cuts than originally planned to a therapy program for children with disabilities, even if that means spending more than lawmakers budgeted for the program. (Walters, 10/1)

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy cut $192 million in Medicaid funding for hospitals last month, but the actual hit to hospitals could end up being 25 percent higher. The state is holding back additional payments to hospitals that weren’t part of the cut, and a spokesman for the governor’s budget office said decisions about whether to pay them will be “based on whether we have enough money to keep the budget in balance.” (Levin Becker, 10/2)

A long-delayed pilot study of Delaware’s Medicaid program has identified more than $11 million in possible waste, fraud and abuse. Officials said in releasing the report Thursday that they are recovering clearly erroneous payments and collecting more information on claims needing further review. (Chase, 10/1)