NextGen Healthcare has agreed to pay $31 million to settle allegations that the developer of the electronic health record software offered kickbacks to lure users, among other violations of the Act. Complaints Other alleged False.
The federal government has intervened in a whistleblower lawsuit, originally filed in 2018 in Vermont federal court, alleging that NextGen provided customers with tickets to concerts and sporting events. , as well as credits worth up to $10,000, to drive purchases and referrals. In the complaint filed with the settlement, the government also alleges NextGen wrongly certified certain versions of its software that failed to record vital sign data, generate complete clinical summaries, or translate data into medical terms, among other important functions.
“With this settlement, our office has now resolved five investigations of misconduct by EHR companies, demonstrating our commitment to ensuring that EHR companies are held accountable. about their misrepresentations,” Vermont U.S. District Attorney Nikolas Kerest said in a press release.
A spokesperson for NextGen said in a statement that the company denied that “any of its conduct violated the law, and the settlement does not include any admission of wrongdoing.”
In the complaint, the Justice Department alleges that between January 2011 and July 2017, certain NextGen users purchased their EHR software as a result of receiving kickbacks, then inadvertently submitted claims fake compensation to receive incentive payments under the meaningful use scheme.
The $31 million settlement represents less than 5% of NextGen’s fiscal 2023 revenue of $653.2 million. Whistleblowers—nurses who use EHR software as health care providers for the South Carolina Department of Corrections—will receive approximately $5.6 million in settlements.
The Justice Department continues to crack down on EHR companies that allegedly misrepresent the capabilities of their software or mislead their business through kickbacks.
In November, software developer EHR Modernizing Medicine agreed to pay $45 million to settle allegations that the company gave kickbacks in exchange for referrals and caused users to submit incorrect claims to receive federal incentive payments. In January 2020, Practice Fusion agreed to pay $145 million to settle allegations that the company solicited and received kickbacks from a major opioid company in exchange for using its EHR software. companies to increase opioid prescriptions.
