Electronic health record vendor CompuGroup has blocked a medical practice in rural Maine from the patient data in its system over a dispute regarding payments owed to the vendor, the Boston Globe reports. The practice, Full Circle Health Care, had originally contracted with vendor Healthport, which was acquired by CompuGroup, a German company whose U.S. headquarters are in Boston. The vendor then increased the maintenance fees from $300 a month to $2,000 a month.
The practice says that the vendor also charged it for hardware that was never delivered. Full Circle stopped paying fees for 10 months before the shut off after months of "fruitless haggling" over the disputed billings. The vendor says that cutting off access was a "last resort" and that the practice could have negotiated with it. Full Circle is now using a new EHR system and attempting work arounds. Article