• EHR vendor NextGen Healthcare has agreed to pay $31M to settle allegations that NextGen violated the False Claims Act (FCA) by misrepresenting the capabilities of certain versions of its EHR software and providing unlawful remuneration to its users to induce them to recommend NextGen’s software.
• The civil settlement includes the resolution of claims brought under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act by Toby Markowitz and Elizabeth Ringold, health care professionals at a facility that used NextGen’s software.
• The whistleblowers in this case will receive $5.58M.

FCA Allegations

The allegations contends that NextGen falsely obtained certification for its software in connection with the 2014 Edition certification criteria published by HHS’s Office of the National Coordinator. The government alleges that NextGen relied on an auxiliary product designed only to perform the certification test scripts, which concealed from the certifying entity that NextGen’s EHR lacked critical functionality. The government alleges that, consequently, the EHR that NextGen ultimately released to its users lacked certain required functionalities, including the ability to record vital sign data, translate data into required medical vocabularies, and create complete clinical summaries.

Anti-Kickback Statute Violation

In addition, the government also alleges that NextGen violated the Anti-Kickback Statute, which prohibits anyone from offering or paying, directly or...

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