The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday announced that Greenway Health settled a False Claims Act suit by paying $57.25 million.

“In its complaint, the government contends that Greenway falsely obtained 2014 Edition certification for its product Prime Suite when it concealed from its certifying entity that Prime Suite did not fully comply with the requirements for certification,” the DOJ said in a statement. “Among other things, Greenway’s product did not incorporate the standardized clinical terminology necessary to ensure the reciprocal flow of information concerning patients and the accuracy of electronic prescriptions. Greenway accomplished its deception by modifying its test-run software to deceive the company hired to certify Prime Suite into believing that it could use the requisite clinical vocabulary.”

Specifically, DOJ said Greenway’s EHR did not include clinical terminology necessary for the “reciprocal flow of information,” and accurate electronic prescriptions.

“Greenway accomplished its deception by modifying its test-run software to deceive the company hired to certify Prime Suite into believing that it could use the requisite clinical vocabulary,” DOJ explained.  “The government further alleges that Greenway was aware that an earlier version of Prime Suite, which was certified to 2011 Edition criteria, did not correctly calculate the percentage of office visits for which its users distributed clinical summaries and thereby caused certain Prime Suite users to falsely attest that they were eligible for EHR incentive payments.”  

Greenway did not correct the problem, DOJ said, so that its users could continue attesting to meaningful use measures and get reimbursed accordingly.

“Finally, the government alleged that Greenway violated the Anti-Kickback Statute by paying money and incentives to its client providers to recommend Prime Suite to prospective new customers,” the DOJ said. 

Greenway CEO Richard Atkins said: "the settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing by Greenway, and all our products remain ONC-certified. This agreement allows us to focus on innovation while collaborating with our customers to improve the delivery of healthcare and the health of our communities.”

Greenway is the second EHR maker to settle a False Claims Act suit with the DOJ in two years. The first, eClinicalWorks, agreed to pay $155 million in May of 2017 to settle allegations that it faked meaningful use certification — a charge that at the time was taken as a signal that the DOJ would probe more EHR makers with similar investigations.

“In the last two years my office has resolved two matters against leading EHR developers where we alleged significant fraudulent conduct.  These are the two largest recoveries in the history of this District and represent the return of over $212 million dollars of fraudulently-obtained taxpayer monies,” said United States Attorney Christina Nolan for the District of Vermont. “These cases are important, not only to prevent theft of taxpayer dollars, but to ensure that the promise of health technology is realized in the form of improved patient safety and efficient healthcare information flow.” 

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Email the writer: tom.sullivan@himssmedia.com 

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