On May 31, 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a $155 million settlement with electronic health records (EHR) company eClinicalWorks (eCW). The settlement resolved allegations that eCW violated the False Claims Act (FCA) by falsely certifying that its software included certain design features and functionality. The settlement marks the first resolution of an FCA case related to an incentive program that has made over $30 billion in Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments available to health care providers to promote the use of EHRs and raises questions about the potential exposure of EHR companies to FCA liability as a result of issues with software design and functionality.
Shortly after the eCW settlement was announced, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued an audit report (the OIG report) estimating that the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) paid $729.4 million in EHR incentive payments to health care providers who did not meet the criteria for demonstrating meaningful use of their EHR technology and were thus not entitled to such payments. The primary issue cited in the OIG report is the inability of the health care providers to provide documentation supporting their attestations that they met the requirements to establish meaningful use of their EHR software.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.
For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]