Fresno, Calif.-based Physician Network Advantage is accusing Santé Health System of failing to pay $1.5 million for its Epic EHR implementation, according to court documents filed Oct. 27.
Physician Network Advantage, which specializes in Epic EHR rollouts, sued Santé Health Systems, its CEO, Scott Wells, and its affiliates for allegedly failing to pay for an EHR deployment after entering into a contract in 2013.
Physician Network Advantage allegedly was supposed to pay an initial fee of $1,016,250 for the EHR deployment. The physician group also allegedly was supposed to pay $534,410 over several years for maintenance and support services.
Fresno (Calif.) Community Hospital and Medical Center was slated to give the physician group a grant for the EHR deployment. It is unclear if the hospital gave the physician group the grant, according to court documents. Physician Network Advantage alleges it was not paid for its services by the physician group.
“A lawsuit filed by Physician Network Advantage, an entity controlled by Community Health System, put forth a number of unfounded allegations against our organizations that are without basis in either fact or law," Kelly Lilles, a spokesperson for Santé, told GVWire. "Under the terms of our agreement with PNA, Santé was only liable for payment if and when we received the grant funding required to cover PNA’s services from Community Health System."
The statement continued: "PNA is well aware of this condition and was fully informed by their parent organization Community Health System that the funding would cease on or around Sept. 1, 2020. PNA and Community Health System opted to continue services knowing that they would not be entitled to compensation under the terms of the contract. Obviously, PNA assumed its parent company, Community Health System, would reimburse them for the services provided."