Lawmakers, officials seek to ramp up scrutiny over electronic health records
March 22, 2019 04:24 PM
Lawmakers and government officials are seeking to ramp up scrutiny over electronic health records.
A week after whistleblower allegations against Community Health Systems’ related to its electronic health record implementation were revealed, Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) asked the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology for information on the ONC’s processes to ensure compliance with the government’s Promoting Interoperability program before paying out incentives.
In a letter to National Coordinator Dr. Don Rucker, Banks asked how today’s procedures to verify compliance differ from those used during meaningful use—the Promoting Interoperability program’s predecessor meant to prod hospitals and clinicians to adopt electronic health records. Referencing the whistleblower allegations against Franklin, Tenn.-based hospital system CHS, Banks also asked if the ONC inspected or verified CHS’ attestations that its EHR technology met requirements, and what information was found.
In a statement, CHS said it believes the whistleblower allegations are “without merit” and “has complete confidence that all of its meaningful use attestations have been accurate.”
The federal government has not yet intervened in the lawsuit, saying it has not completed its investigation by the court’s deadline and is not yet able to decide whether to proceed, according to a notice filed with the court on Tuesday. The notice stated that the government would continue its investigation.
The software implemented at CHS hospitals and developed by vendor Medhost, who is also named as a defendant in the complaint, contained flaws that prevented clinicians from providing care safely and reliably, making the software ineligible for certification under the incentive program, the complaint alleges. CHS implemented the EHR software rapidly to be able to reap more incentive payments, which led to additional problems with the software’s performance and endangered patients, the lawsuit alleges.
For example, the complaint says problems with the EHR technology led doctors to inadvertently order incorrect medications or dosages. The technology also was unable to trigger medications to be delivered at the right time, perform drug interaction checks or lock patient charts while open, according to the complaint.
“Some of the defects in the software, including an inability to calculate weight-based dosing accurately, exposed patients to mistakes that were easily missed in institutional settings and potentially catastrophic,” the complaint said.
CHS said in its statement that it worked diligently to address any issues with the EHR technology and is unaware of any instances of patient harm.
Doctors and hospital administrators sounded the alarm about the flaws, but CHS continued to roll out the software across its hospitals. CHS and Medhost then knowingly and falsely attested that the software complied with certification requirements, the complaint alleges.
The complaint further alleges that the 60 hospitals CHS acquired from Health Management Associates similarly did not meet certification requirements, yet CHS knowingly attested the software did.