News: EHR vendor sued for $1 billion due to record inaccuracies

eClinicalWorks, a leading EHR vendor, has been sued for nearly $1 billion over allegations that its software’s patient data are not accurate and reliable, according to Medscape.

This suit isn’t the first time eClinicalWorks has been in the news this year either. In June, the EHR company paid $155 million to settle a False Claims lawsuit brought by the Department of Justice (DOJ). The June suit also called the medical software faulty, according to Medscape.

The current lawsuit, according to EHR Intelligence, was filed by the estate administrator of Stjepan Tot, who died of stomach cancer in November 2016. The complaint alleges that Tot’s physician was “unable to determine reliability when his first symptoms of cancer appeared as his medical records failed to accurately display his medical history on progress notes,” EHR Intelligence reported.

The suit seeks class-action status for all patients whose medical records reside in the eClinicalWorks EHR and which are similarly flawed, Medscape reported.

According to the suit, eClinicalWorks falsely claimed that the software satisfied the requirements of the government’s meaningful use incentive program. Besides not always accurately showing the medical history in progress notes, Medscape says, the software sometimes displayed incorrect patient data and the data for multiple patients at once.

Editor’s note: To read Medscape’s coverage of this story, click here. To read EHR Intelligence’s coverage, click here. To read an ACDIS position paper on the role of CDI professionals and EHRs, click here.