Becker's Hospital Review

52 CIO / HEALTH IT CHS made false meaningful use claims, whistleblowers say By Jackie Drees W histleblowers allege Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems submitted hundreds of millions of dollars in false claims to HHS for federal incentive payments through CMS' promoting interoperability program for EHRs, according to court documents un- sealed March 14 in Miami. In the lawsuit, the plaintiff alleges CHS filed false claims under the program, receiving more than $450 million in incentive pay- ments between 2012 and 2015. e two plaintiffs are former CHS employees who worked for the health system from January 2009 to December 2016 and March 2012 to December 2016, respectively. In a statement emailed to Becker's Hospital Review, CHS Senior Vice President of Cor- porate Communications Tomi Galin said the health system found the allegations were "without merit," and CHS "has complete con- fidence that all of it's meaningful use attesta- tions have been accurate." "Despite insinuations to the contrary in the litigation, we are unaware of any instances of patient harm," Ms. Galin said. "As an organi- zation, we are devoted to patient safety and have always prioritized the quality of care provided in our hospitals as our most im- portant responsibility." Under the promoting interoperability pro- gram, formerly referred to as the meaningful use program, CMS distributes incentive pay- ments to healthcare providers that effectively install EHRs and use them to improve care coordination and patient engagement. e whistleblowers claim meaningful use attes- tations CHS filed were false, and the EHR system, Medhost, that CHS installed across numerous of its hospitals had "serious flaws," including a lack of safety and reliability when performing critical functions. "Some of the defects in the soware, including an inability to calculate weight-based dosing accurately, exposed patients to mistakes that were easily missed in institutional settings and potentially catastrophic," the lawsuit stated. "e providers who relied on Medhost so- ware oen viewed it as an impediment to care, rather than an improvement." Additional defects of Medhost's EHR so- ware include its failure to flag medication allergies once the order is in the system, in- ability to lock open patient charts, and per- form drug interaction checks on medications ordered when the patient is discharged, the plaintiffs alleged. CHS physicians and hospital administrators became aware of the EHR soware issues soon aer it was installed in 2012, and vari- ous hospitals under CHS submitted reports. However, the health system proceeded to roll out Medhost's soware at more hospi- tals, according to the report. While implementing the Medhost EHR, Ms. Galin said CHS worked to address any issues "appropriately and promptly," and recruited third-party experts for EHR consultation. In August 2018, CHS received a civil investi- gative demand related to the health system's EHR adoption and adherence to the promot- ing interoperability program. e demands are issued by federal and state authorities to collect records related to ongoing civil inves- tigations, such as False Claims Act cases. n IBM director shares insights on Aetna blockchain ecosystem By Mackenzie Garrity I n January, IBM announced its collaboration with Aetna to develop a blockchain network to cut costs and improve efficiency in the healthcare industry. Francisco Curbera, PhD, director of innovation and solu- tion incubation development at IBM, explained the initia- tive in more detail with news website Smartereum. "As a result of this collaboration, we expect increased con- nectivity, easier data-sharing and less friction in processes across the healthcare ecosystem. Patients will benefit by receiving better, more efficient and higher quality health services," he said. Many of the organizations IBM partners with are health- care-related. However, the blockchain developer did bring financial services company PNC into the ecosystem. "The collaboration is looking for a diverse set of partici- pants in the healthcare ecosystem, including those pro- viding financial services. PNC has been providing financial services in the healthcare industry for over 20 years," Dr. Curbera told Smartereum. The blockchain network will be designed to complement data interoperability and patient empowerment. Through the decentralized ledger, organizations will be able to add a layer of trust and transparency when exchanging data. "Blockchain technology is designed to create trust across individuals and organizations by securing and verifying the source and integrity of data and transactions. It does this in the way other technologies can't easily deliver. By creating this level of trust, blockchain networks enable creating of business networks that tackle difficult industry wide problems that require strong collaboration among partners and competitors," Dr. Curbera said. n

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