Provider of electronic health records (EHR) technology can engage in fraud by misrepresenting the capabilities of their software, by paying kickbacks to get or keep customers, or by accepting kickbacks from pharmaceutical companies in exchange for recommending the prescribing of the companies’ drugs. Examples of these types of cases include:
- In 2017, EHR provider eClinicalWorks paid $155 million to resolve criminal and civil allegations that it cheated to get a government certification for its software and paid kickbacks to certain of its customers.
- In 2020, EHR provider Practice Fusion paid $145 million to resolve criminal and civil allegations that it misrepresented the capabilities of its software and extracted unlawful kickbacks from pharmaceutical companies in exchange for incorporating into its software so-called clinical decision support (CDS) alerts that were designed to increase prescriptions for the companies’ drugs.
- In 2020, in a case that Jeff Newman Law attorney Gregg Shapiro worked on as an Assistant United States Attorney, EHR provider Athenahealth paid $18.25 million to resolve two whistleblowers’ allegations that Athena tried to maintain its existing customers and to obtain new ones by providing them with kickbacks such as all-expenses paid trips to the Masters Golf Tournament.
If you have information about an EHR provider that has misrepresented the capabilities of its software or has paid or received kickbacks, please contact us here or at 617-917-2875.