Justo Mendez JD

Justo Mendez JD General Information

Biography

Mr. Justo Mendez serves as Partner, Healthcare Counsel at McCullough Sudan. Mr. Mendez served as Chief Legal Officer, Chief Human Resources Officer & Chief Compliance Officer at Harbor Health Systems. Mendez specializes in representing and advising healthcare providers in regulatory compliance, transactional, recoupment, reimbursement, disciplinary, and privacy matters. He also represents healthcare providers in government investigations and enforcement actions. Justo has over 15 years of experience in health law. His experience includes working as a federal agent for the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Office of the Inspector General, and as a federal prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Houston. As a federal prosecutor in the white-collar crimes section, Justo successfully investigated and prosecuted dozens of healthcare fraud cases, amounting to dozens of millions of dollars in recoveries. The cases involved allegations of false claims; violations of the federal Anti-Kickback and HIPAA privacy statutes; and other cases related to health care qui tam actions and Stark law violations. Prior to joining the federal government, Justo worked with private firms representing health care providers and businesses in diverse matters. He has also represented healthcare providers in administrative hearings before Medicare's Administrative Law Judges. After his time with the federal government, Justo served as Chief Legal, Compliance and Human Resources Officer for Harbor Healthcare System. Through his multiple roles at Harbor, he was immersed in the day-to-day operations of a company, managing over 900 employees across five (5) states. Justo was a member of the management team for 56 hospice agencies, three (3) hospice inpatient facilities, a physician group, outpatient clinics, home health agency, and a long-term acute care hospital. Specifically, he managed healthcare regulatory compliance, health information privacy, employee relations, provider disciplinary issues, use of outside counsel, and negotiations with providers of employee benefits. Most recently, Justo worked as Senior Regulatory Counsel at DaVita Healthcare Partners. While at DaVita, he focused on regulatory compliance of ongoing and future ventures of a Fortune 500 healthcare company. Particularly, Justo provided legal advice to DaVita's executives regarding compliance with the Corporate Integrity Agreement monitored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He was also tasked with leading internal investigations into allegations of wrongdoing related to healthcare regulatory matters. Justo Mendez is based in our Houston office but represents clients across the state.