In 2018, a whistleblower lawsuit filed against Community Health Systems (CHS) and Medhost showed that flaws in the health system’s electronic health record (EHR) software may have exposed patients to health risks. The suit alleges that CHS had fraudulently obtained millions of dollars in federal subsidies by covering up flaws in the software that pose safety risks to patients. This is one of several lawsuits arguing that EHR software developers deceived federal officials to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies meant to entice hospitals and doctors to implement EHR software and to improve their ability to track and share clinical information with each other. Plaintiffs claimed that software developers deceived federal officials by gaming the certification system, falsely demonstrating that their products were operable when they contained serious flaws. So far, federal officials have clawed back $941 in improperly awarded subsidies.
When EHR systems function improperly, it can expose patients to safety risks. For example, glitches can prevent practitioners from accessing records quickly or they can associate diagnostic test results with the wrong patient, resulting in treatment or medication errors. A recent study showed how the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, the agency tasked with regulating electronic health records, found that 40 percent of the EHR systems that were targeted for post-market review had flaws that could result in harm to patients. This could include displaying information incorrectly, such as numbers and drug codes. These systems were used in 786 hospitals and 37,365 provider organizations. The prevalence of this issue demonstrates how federal agencies need to more closely regulate this growing segment of the health care industry to protect patients from fraudulent behavior.
Last Updated on May 15, 2020 by Aimed Alliance
