Athenahealth has become the latest electronic health records company to resolve federal kickback allegations by agreeing to a multimillion-dollar settlement.
The Watertown company has agreed to pay $18.25 million to resolve accusations that it made illegal kickbacks to generate sales of its athenaClinicals electronic health records software.
Federal prosecutors spelled out their allegations in a settlement filed this week in Boston federal court. The settlement describes three now-discontinued marketing programs. The first, dubbed “Concierge Events,” provided all-expense paid trips for clients to certain sporting and entertainment events, including the Masters golf tournament and the Kentucky Derby. The second, called “Client Lead Generation,” paid existing clients for leads to land new clients. And the third, called “Conversion Deals,” involved payments to rival companies that discontinued health-information technology products and then referred clients to athenahealth.
The conduct alleged in the settlement started in 2014 and continued for several years, with one of the programs not ending until last year, prosecutors said. The cases began from two lawsuits filed by whistleblowers. Prosecutors said such conduct can undermine medical decisions and waste taxpayer dollars by inflating health care costs.
Athenahealth did not admit to any wrongdoing. Instead, the company issued a statement saying it agreed to settle the case to “put the matter behind us and move forward with our critical work on behalf of patients and healthcare providers.” The company added that it places the highest priority on complying with all laws and regulations governing its industry.
Other companies that reached similar accords with prosecutors included eClinicalWorks, a Westborough company that agreed to pay $155 million in 2017 to settle a case involving allegations that the firm misrepresented the capabilities of its software and that it paid kickbacks to certain clients in return for promoting its products. Other big industry settlements took place in 2019 with Inform Diagnostics ($63.5 million) and Greenway Health ($57 million).
Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @jonchesto.