United States of America, ex rel. Mark S. Razin v. Christus St. Joseph's Hospital of Houston
Failure to Disclose FI Overpayment of $794,000.00
$1.5 million Settlement

This case settled in February 2002 when St. Joseph's Hospital in Houston, one of the Christus chains of hospitals, agreed to pay $1,569,000 to resolve allegations that it knowingly failed to disclose an overpayment made by the federal Medicare program. The allegations were brought by Mark S. Razin of Long Beach, California. Razin was formerly an employee of Healthcare Financial Advisors (HFA), a financial consultant to hospitals across the United States. HFA was the subject of a February 1999 search warrant executed by the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services, which holds primary responsibility for enforcing fraud against the Medicare program.

This settlement resolves liability for failing to disclose a known overpayment of $798,000 from Medicare. Mr. Razin's lawsuit presents that healthcare providers must disclose known overpayments from the Medicare program arising out of past reimbursement errors. St. Joseph's has agreed to the payment to resolve allegations without acknowledging any wrongdoing.