Amicas, Inc. v. GMG Health Systems, LTD.

CourtCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit
DecidedApril 10, 2012
Docket11-1628
StatusPublished

This text of Amicas, Inc. v. GMG Health Systems, LTD. (Amicas, Inc. v. GMG Health Systems, LTD.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the First Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Amicas, Inc. v. GMG Health Systems, LTD., (1st Cir. 2012).

Opinion

United States Court of Appeals For the First Circuit

No. 11-1628

AMICAS, INC.,

Plaintiff, Appellee,

v.

GMG HEALTH SYSTEMS, LTD., d/b/a Gonzaba Medical Group,

Defendant, Appellant.

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS

[Hon. Leo T. Sorokin, U.S. Magistrate Judge]

Before Torruella, Circuit Judge, Souter,* Associate Justice, and Boudin, Circuit Judge.

James L. Messenger with whom Kevin G. Kenneally and LeClairRyan, P.C. were on brief for appellant. Lawrence S. Delaney with whom Joseph M. Downes III and Demeo & Associates, P.C. were on brief for appellee.

April 10, 2012

* The Hon. David H. Souter, Associate Justice (Ret.) of the Supreme Court of the United States, sitting by designation. BOUDIN, Circuit Judge. This appeal concerns a contract

dispute between two companies: Gonzaba Medical Group ("GMG"), a

280-employee provider of medical services, and Amicas, Inc.

("Amicas"), a publicly-traded information technology ("IT") company

specializing in medical software. GMG contracted with Amicas in

2006 to develop and license two computer programs related to GMG's

radiology services: a picture archiving communications system

("PACS") and radiology information system ("RIS").

Broadly speaking, the purpose of the software was to

automate the collection and transfer of information necessary for

billing that GMG had previously been entering manually. The aim

was to avoid revenue loss due to incomplete capturing of billable

charges that had occurred through manual data entry. To this end,

the proposed software had to accept information from a patient

management system previously established by another company--

Sage--and send information to Sage's previously established billing

system.

The parties reached an agreement in October 2006 and

executed a contract, drawn up by Amicas, calling for GMG’s payment

of $1,009,548 over five years in exchange for a software license

for the RIS and PACS programs, specified hardware, and continuing

support services from Amicas. The agreement (whose relevant

provisions are set out in an appendix to this opinion) comprised a

-2- set of different documents signed on the same date, and contained

an integration clause.

The agreement warranted that for 90 days after the "go-

live date" the software would "substantially conform to

Documentation"--specified product manuals for the relevant software

and hardware--"when used by [GMG] in a manner that is consistent

with the Documentation.” But the warranty excluded any failure

resulting from databases of GMG or third parties and warned that

“[Amicas] does not warrant that the Software described herein will

meet [GMG’s] requirements.”

Amicas developed and installed the programs, which

involved working with Sage to design, test, and tweak the

"interfaces"--the programming necessary to move data from the Sage

patient management system into the Amicas RIS system and out to

Sage's billing system. It was controversy over the operation of

the latter connection, referred to by the parties as the "chargeout

interface," that ultimately led to this litigation.

GMG began using Amicas' software and hardware on March

13, 2007 (the "go-live date"), but the chargeout interface was not

ready due to GMG's indecision on a particular implementation detail

and delays on Sage’s end of the interface, so GMG continued

processing radiology charges manually in the interim. GMG started

using the chargeout interface in late July, and reported several

-3- problems to Amicas in the first few months--one a minor glitch that

was easily resolved.

More serious were transpositions of the name of the

physician who read the radiology films and the referring physician;

Amicas investigated the name switching issue and reported that the

problem stemmed from how Sage's software was processing and

interpreting Amicas’ batch file, not with what Amicas’ program was

producing. After some internal deliberations and more back and

forth with Amicas over a few weeks, GMG referred the issue to Sage.

The record does not reveal whether Sage resolved the

problem but it is clear that GMG continued to experience some

frustration with the system, and it ultimately stopped using the

chargeout interface altogether in "late 2007," opting instead for

its old method of manual processing. However, GMG does not claim

that it informed Amicas of that decision--or even that any problems

whatsoever with the chargeout interface persisted.

By November 2007, GMG was negotiating with Sage to

develop substitute software, and by February 2008 Sage was

proposing to demonstrate a replacement product. An e-mail from

Sage to GMG in March 2008 urged that "[o]ur experts feel that

almost 100 percent of [your errors] are due to . . . having

disparate systems and would be eliminated by using our RIS system."

-4- As the negotiations with Sage progressed, GMG's principal

contact with Amicas, Elsa Vasquez,1 e-mailed Adam Helms (the Amicas

engineer responsible for setting up the chargeout interface) on

February 8, 2008--some five months after Vasquez's last

communication with Amicas about the chargeout interface--to ask

“where we are with this interface.” Helms, who was under the

impression it was successfully installed months earlier, expressed

surprise at the question and asked Vasquez for clarification.

Over the next few months, GMG reported problems it

perceived with the interface, and Amicas worked with Sage to

follow-up on GMG's concerns. Helms ultimately concluded that the

problems were attributable to “GMG’s failure to maintain consistent

sets of data,” and were worsened by user errors and failure to

report the issues earlier. Amicas finished its work on the

reported issues by May 2008, but in June 2008--around the same time

that negotiations with Sage for replacement software neared

completion--GMG put off all efforts to test the chargeout

interface.

On June 30, 2008 (10 days after Sage forwarded GMG a

contract for replacement software), GMG sent Amicas a termination

notice, citing “fail[ure] to conform to the Documentation and

1 Vasquez--the full-time GMG employee with the "responsibility to ensure that the software and hardware solution[s] for the GMG practice function[ed] effectively"--held the title of "Imaging Services Coordinator/Radiology Manager." She had no IT background or training.

-5- [failure to] deliver[] a functional product.” Amicas and GMG

personnel met on July 9, 2008, to discuss GMG's letter, but by then

GMG had decided to substitute Sage and had directed Sage not to

cooperate further with Amicas on seeking solutions to whatever

interface problems remained. Amicas then brought the present suit

against GMG in federal district court.

Amicas' complaint alleged breach of contract, together

with other claims not at issue on appeal, and GMG counterclaimed

(e.g., for breach, negligent misrepresentation, and violation of

Chapter 93A, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 93A, § 11 (2011)). Following

discovery, both parties moved for summary judgment; the district

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