On March 8, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the first settlement under its Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative, as Comprehensive Health Services, LLC (CHS), a global medical services provider, agreed to pay $930,000 in part to resolve False Claims Act (FCA) allegations regarding cyber fraud. The government alleged that CHS contracted with the State Department to provide a secure electronic medical record (EMR) system to store patients’ medical records and submitted claims for the costs of this work, but failed to disclose that it had not consistently stored patients’ medical records on a secure EMR system.
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Electronic Health Records
Electronic Health Records Company Pays High Price for Software Shortcomings
By Jeff Gibson on
Greenway Health LLC, a Tampa-based developer of electronic health records (EHR) software, recently agreed to pay $57.25 million to resolve False Claims Act (FCA) allegations that it overstated the capabilities of and failed to correct known errors with its EHR software. In a complaint filed in the United States District Court for the District of Vermont, the United States alleged that Greenway caused its users to submit false claims to the government by, among other things, misrepresenting the capabilities of its EHR product “Prime Suite” and providing unlawful remuneration to users to induce them to recommend the product.
EHR Companies Must Be HHS Certified
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 established the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Program to encourage healthcare providers to adopt EHR technology and demonstrate its “meaningful use.” To obtain certification for their product, EHR companies are required to demonstrate that their product satisfies all applicable U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) certification criteria. This requires that developers do the following two things:
- Pass testing performed by an independent, accredited testing laboratory authorized by HHS.
- Obtain and maintain certification by an independent, accredited certification body authorized by HHS.
Continue Reading Electronic Health Records Company Pays High Price for Software Shortcomings