Santa Fe, New Mexico’s St. Vincent Regional Medical Center and its Irving, Texas-based partner Christus Health have agreed to pay $12.24 million plus interest to settle allegations that they made illegal donations to county governments under a discontinued state matching program, and a whistleblower will receive $2.25 million for his or her share of the recovery.
The hospital and Christus allegedly violated the False Claims Act by making illegal payments to New Mexico counties from 2001 to 2009 that were used to fund the state’s share of Medicaid payments to the hospital, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. (The DOJ does not specify which counties received the donations.)
