The Illinois Procurement Policy Board voted to uphold Epic’s $62 million contract with University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System (UI Health).
The decision deals a potentially fatal blow to Cerner's protest over the bidding process, although it could turn to the courts to continue challenging the health system's decision.
After hearing from both Epic and Cerner last week, the board “found no specific violation,” in the bidding process, but voted to notify the Illinois Executive Inspector General, Matt von Behren, executive director of the Procurement Policy Board said in an email to FierceHealthcare.
In April, the board initially voted to void the contract after Cerner appealed the September 2017 award, and sent the allegations to the state’s Executive Ethics Commission for review. But the board’s attorneys later determined that Epic was permitted a chance to respond and request a hearing, according to von Behren.
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In a letter obtained by FierceHealthcare, Epic CEO Judy Faulkner defended her company’s bid, noting that the total cost to install Epic’s system at UI Health was $3 million less than Cerner's. She also refuted Cerner’s allegations that the consultant firm Impact Advisors helped secure the bid for Epic because it stood to benefit given its past relationship with the EHR vendor.
“There is nothing in the record to suggest any conflict of interest or improper conduct,” Faulkner wrote in the letter to the board dated May 16.
The decision ends the Procurement Policy Board’s involvement in the matter. Tom Klein, the Illinois deputy inspector general and chief of the Springfield division, said the office does not confirm or deny whether an investigation is taking place and does not comment on any ongoing investigations.
The Executive Ethics Commission did not respond to a request for comment.
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Mara Georges, a partner at Daley and Georges who is representing Cerner in the matter, claims Epic received information through the hearing process that wasn't available to Cerner. She told FierceHealthcare she has submitted 16 Freedom of Information Act requests to obtain information about the hearing and the award, many of which have been denied by the University of Illinois Chicago.
“We just don’t have the information to really make out the case from an evidentiary point of view, she said. “That’s what has been the biggest challenge here.”
It’s still possible Cerner could contest the contract in court having exhausted its administrative remedies. But Georges declined to say whether Cerner would use that option.
Neither Cerner nor Epic responded to a request for comment.