YouTube isn’t only for watching funny cat videos.
In an attempt to address the eClinicalWorks fraud settlement, HHS OIG recently published a video on the website.
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The three-minute clip opens subtly, merely hinting at its ties to the eClinicalWorks settlement.
Electronic health records are key to providing quality healthcare, the narrator points out. And when an EHR company inaccurately represents itself and its capabilities, the safety of all patients is at risk.
But one minute in, the video shifts its focus specifically to eClinicalWorks.
In late May, the Westborough, Massachusetts-based vendor and some of its employees agreed to pay $155 million to resolve a False Claims Act lawsuit, which said the company falsely represented its software.
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“eClinicalWorks was causing healthcare providers who use its software to submit false claims to what is called the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, and it was doing this because its software actually didn’t meet the criteria required for a software to be certified in this program,” HHS OIG Senior Counsel John O’Brien said in the video.
The settlement is the first with an EHR software company, O’Brien noted.
In addition to the large fine, eClinicalWorks signed a five-year corporate integrity agreement with HHS OIG, the narrator added.
O’Brien urged patients not to ignore the settlement and its repercussions since inaccurate medical records impact everyone who uses the healthcare system.
He closed with a rather stern message to eClinicalWorks and the healthcare world at large:
The message OIG wants to send to the healthcare community is that we take the certification process for EHR software very seriously. There is no room for manipulating this process and making false statements during the certification process. OIG will vigilantly, along with its law enforcement partners, investigate any conduct that places patient safety at risk and that causes losses to the federal healthcare programs.
It’s interesting to note that eClinicalWorks didn’t admit guilt for the lawsuit’s charges.
“We are pleased to put this matter behind us and concentrate all of our efforts on our customers and continued innovations to enhance patient care delivery,” CEO Girish Navani said in a statement in May.
And indeed, the company seems to have moved on. On July 28, eClinicalWorks cheerfully released its second quarter results, noting that it added more than 3,000 providers in Q2.
But not everyone is so happy. A recent survey by Reaction Data proves the settlement has at least somewhat deterred non-eClinicalWorks customers from selecting the vendor going forward. Seventy-one percent of respondents said they’re extremely unlikely to consider using the company in the future.
Photo: Natali_Mis, Getty Images