Republican lawmakers are questioning why no one noticed that the chief medical officer for Arizona’s Medicaid program is practicing without a license.
Theresa Costales is the chief medical officer for the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS). Her medical license was supposed to be renewed in April, but it later expired on Aug. 9.
Officials at AHCCCS say they are in contact with the State Medical Board and are pursuing an expedited renewal and approval of the license.
Republican lawmakers questioned how this impacted AHCCCS members, and whether Costales was involved with the agency’s recent changes to developmental disabilities assessment programs while unlicensed.
There is apparently no statutory requirement saying the chief medical officer has to be licensed.
-
Find everything you need to know about elections in Arizona and Maricopa County from KJZZ's Politics Desk.
-
In a major decision last month, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Trump administration, allowing the Department of Homeland Security to end Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands of refugees from Haiti and Syria, who may now be forced to leave the country.
-
Incumbent Kevin Thompson has secured one of two nominations in the Republican primary for the Arizona Corporation Commission, the state’s top utility regulator. But the race for the second seat is still too close to call.
-
Former Cardinals kicker Jay Feely won the Republican nomination in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District, according to a race call by the Associated Press, while early results show Amish Shah leads a four-way Democratic primary with 42% of the vote.
-
Early results show Kimberly Yee is leading incumbent Tom Horne in the Republican superintendent of public instruction primary with 56% of the vote.