NextGen Healthcare to pay $31 mln to settle fraud claims

Nextgen Healthcare

14/07/2023 19:58

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      NextGen accused of fraudulently obtaining a federal
certification
    

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      Similar investigations by Vermont U.S. Attorney's office
have
netted more than $400 million 
    

  
    By Brendan Pierson
       July 14 (Reuters) - Electronic health records company
NextGen Healthcare Inc has agreed to pay $31 million to settle
claims that it misrepresented the capabilities of its software
and paid users kickbacks to get them to recommend it, U.S.
authorities announced Friday.
    The settlement is the latest in a series of similar deals
between electronic health records companies and Vermont U.S.
Attorney Nikolas Kerest, which have recovered a total of more
than $400 million.
    It stems from a whistleblower lawsuit brought against the
company by Elizabeth Ringold and Toby Markowitz, two clinicians
who used NextGen's software while working for the South Carolina
Department of Corrections. The whistleblowers will receive
$5,580,000 from the settlement, according to Kerest's office.
    "The company denies that any of its conduct violated the
law, and the settlement agreement does not include any
admissions of wrongdoing," a NextGen spokesperson said in an
email.
    Ringold and Markowitz filed their lawsuit under seal in
2018. Federal prosecutors filed their complaint joining the case
this week along with the settlement.
    Prosecutors said that NextGen in 2014 fraudulently obtained
a certification that allowed providers to receive incentive
payments from the government if they used NextGen software. The
company falsely represented that its software had certain
capabilities required for the certification, including the
ability to record vital signs and generate clinical summaries,
according to the complaints.
    Prosecutors also alleged that NextGen offered customers
incentives of up to $10,000 to recommend the product to others,
violating the federal Anti-Kickback Statute.
    Previous, similar cases in Vermont have resulted in a $155
million settlement with eClinicalWorks; a $145 million deal with
Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc's Practice Fusion Inc; a
$57.5 million settlement with Greenway Health; and a $45 million
deal with Modernizing Medicine Inc.
    The case is United States ex rel Markowitz et al v. NextGen
Healthcare Inc, Case No. 2:18-cv-195, U.S. District Court,
District of Vermont.
    For the government: Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren Almquist
Lively of the District of Vermont and Christelle Klovers and
Kelley Hauser of the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Division
    For the whistleblower: Colette Matzzie of Phillips and Cohen
    For NextGen: Manny Abascal of Latham & Watkins
    
    Read more:
    U.S. joins whistleblower case against electronic health
records vendor
    IN BRIEF: Allscripts to pay $145 million in electronic
health records probe

 (Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York)
 ((Brendan.Pierson@thomsonreuters.com; 332-219-1345 (desk);
646-306-0235 (cell);))