News in brief - June 13, 2005

Physicians go after EMR vendor - Ex-HealthSouth executives cleared - Thieves steal personal information

Physicians go after EMR vendor

Several physicians have won more than $800,000 from lawsuits filed against Dr. Notes over the past three years, the South Florida Business Journal reported.

In an interview, Angel M. Garcia, MD, CEO and founder of Dr. Notes, attributed the company's legal problems to physicians misunderstanding its free-trial offer. He also blamed the problems on former employees attempting to take financial advantage of the company after they were unable to find new employment. "The free trial was a 6-month program that said -- and it's in the documentation -- that if the software doesn't do everything we say it does, then we'll give you your money back," he said. "So, if [doctors] read the documentation [they will see ] it's not a free trial in the sense that we just let you try it and if you don't like it, you give it back."

"We're not about to go out of business at all," Dr. Garcia said. About 5,000 physicians around the country use Dr. Notes' EMR, he said.

Ex-HealthSouth executives cleared

A federal jury acquitted two former HealthSouth executives of charges that they participated in a bribery and kickback scheme involving a hospital in Saudi Arabia.

The verdict was handed down in the case against Robert E. Thompson and James C. Reilly. Two other former HealthSouth officials had previously pleaded guilty.

Thompson, a former division president, and Reilly, a former group vice president, were accused of scheming to bribe an executive of a Saudi Arabian foundation to help HealthSouth secure a contract to provide staffing and management services for a hospital. The contract, which was eventually executed, said HealthSouth would get $10 million a year for five years.

Former HealthSouth executives Vincent Nico and Thomas Carman pleaded guilty last year to criminal charges for their roles in the Saudi Arabian operation.

Thieves steal personal information

The University of Kansas Medical Center on May 11 notified 8,000 patients that three of its computers were stolen, including one containing their personal information, the Kansas City Star reported. But in a letter to patients, the Kansas City, Kan.-based hospital said it was unlikely that the patients were at risk of having their identities stolen because the information in the computer did not include their Social Security numbers.

Separately, the FBI in May charged a former employee of San Jose (Calif.) Medical Group with stealing medical and financial information of 185,000 patients of the large multispecialty group practice, the San Jose Mercury News reported. The FBI recovered a computer disc containing the records that Joseph Nathaniel Harris allegedly stole from the offices of the group practice on March 28.