Seven North Carolina physician practices have sued the state's Department of Health and Human Services over the ineffectiveness of NC Tracks, the state's new Medicaid claim processing system, which has allegedly caused millions of dollars in damage to Medicaid providers, according to a Winston-Salem Journal report.
The physicians' groups are also suing Computer Science Corporation, the developer of NC Tracks, as well as Maximus Consulting Services and Sli Global Solutions, two companies responsible for testing and validating NC Tracks.
The plaintiffs filed the suit in the Wake County Superior Court, suing for damage relief, declaratory relief and injunctive relief against the defendants, according to the report.
NC Tracks allegedly experienced 3,200 software errors in the few months following its July 1, 2013 implementation, 200 of which were considered "critical and systemwide failures," according to the report.
The errors allegedly caused payments to providers to be delayed, unpaid or cut by more than half a billion dollars in the first three months, according to the report.
The plaintiffs allege the DHHS and the information technology groups were aware of the shortcomings of NC Tracks when the system launched, according to the report.
Additionally, they claim the errors of NC Tracks have caused the state to not be in compliance with Medicaid reimbursement laws, according to the report.
The plaintiffs say providers have stopped accepting Medicaid patients or even closed their practices because of the inefficacies and errors in Medicaid reimbursement.
NC Tracks is the largest health IT project in state government history, totaling $484 million for development, implementation and continued support, according to the report. Additionally, NC Tracks processes $13 billion in Medicaid reimbursement claims for 70,000 providers across the state, said the report.
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