Becker's ASC Review

84 HEALTHCARE NEWS New York hospital settles with Cerner over billing problems: 5 things to know By Ayla Ellison G lens Falls (N.Y.) Hospital has reached a settlement with Cerner over losses it sustained when Cerner's billing system did not work, accord- ing to The Post-Star. Five things to know: 1. Glens Falls Hospital President and CEO Dianne Shugrue announced the settlement in an ad in The Post-Star. However, the ad didn't include the terms of the settlement or when it was reached. 2. The hospital ran the ad after The Post-Star published a report detailing "collection issues" the hospital experienced after implementing a new Cerner billing system in November 2016. 3. According to an audit report cited by The Post-Star, Glens Falls Hospital was unable to collect on $16.3 million in bills in 2016, and that number rose to $54 million in 2017. The auditors attributed $38 million of the increase to "collection issues" caused by the switch to Cerner. 4. The hospital's ad said the billing problems lasted for two years. "It was a serious, short-term issue and it's fixed," Ms. Shugrue said in the ad. Ms. Shu- grue told The Post-Star the terms of the hospital's settlement with Cerner are confidential. She said both parties were satisfied by the settlement. 5. Regarding the settlement, a Cerner spokesperson issued the following statement to Becker's: "The hospital remains a valued partner. The matter was previously resolved. We continue to work together to provide care to the community." n 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 unsealed March 14 in Miami. In the lawsuit, the plaintiff alleges CHS filed false claims under the program, receiving more than $450 million in incentive payments between 2012 and 2015, according to the legal documents. 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 Hospi- tal Review, CHS Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications Tomi Galin said the health system found the allegations were "without merit," and CHS "has complete confidence that all of it's meaningful use at- testations 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 organization, we are devoted to patient safety and have always prioritized the quality of care provided in our hospitals as our most important 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 at- testations 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 states. "e providers who relied on Medhost soware oen viewed it as an impediment to care, rather than an improvement." Additional defects of Medhost's EHR soware include its failure to flag medica- tion allergies once the order is in the system, inability to lock open patient charts, and inability to perform 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 hospitals, 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 Despite insinuations to the contrary in the litigation, we are unaware of any instances of patient harm

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