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A major vendor of electronic health record systems for physicians, eClinicalWork, will pay the federal government $155 million to settle a False Claims Act lawsuit contending that its products are faulty.
The settlement is the first of its kind for a healthcare information technology company facing formal charges that its systems did not help providers achieve objectives of the Meaningful Use program for EHRs and that usability shortcomings put patient lives at risk.
In addition, the settlement contends that eClinicalWorks paid kickbacks in exchange for promoting its product, which had flaws that could expose patients to potential safety issues.
The plaintiff in the lawsuit, Brendan Delaney, an IT staff worker for New York City who was implementing the software at Rikers Island jail; he encountered numerous problems with the EHR, its coding and functionality. The suit was filed under the False Claims Act, a federal law that allows people who are not affiliated with the government...