9 Investigates uncovered a hospital’s dispute with a software provider, which the hospital claims is putting patients at risk.
Parrish Medical Center is in a legal battle with McKesson Corporation, the provider of software used to manage patient care.
A federal lawsuit claims the problems at PMC are rooted in a years-old mandate for the digitizing of patient records, set off a chain of events that put patients in danger and shut hospital staff out of key systems.
The hospital’s suit against McKesson complains of unfinished software, missed deadlines and monetary disputes. Parrish Medical had committed millions to rolling out the new patient record system, but said the software failed to perform.
In the lawsuit, the hospital claims, “McKesson blocked PMC from downloading drug-to-drug and drug-to-allergy interaction updates that alert physicians of possible allergic reactions if prescribed to patients.”
The hospital accused the company of “inhibiting PMC from providing essential patient care.”
Parrish Medical Center is asking a judge to step in, claiming McKesson is threatening to pull the plug on all its products in use at the hospital unless it gets paid.
A spokesperson said the hospital has made changes to ensure computer problems can’t hurt the quality of care, but she would not say how.
“First, we have not and would not put patient safety at risk,” a McKesson spokesperson said via email Wednesday. “We are disappointed that the hospital took this action and strongly disagree with its allegations. We will continue to work with them to resolve the matter amicably."