DisputeSoft was engaged as a testifying expert in February 2017 by Weirton Medical Center in a dispute with Siemens Medical Solutions and Cerner Health Services over an enterprise software implementation and subsequent managed support services.

    DisputeSoft was initially engaged pre-litigation to assist counsel in mediation efforts. When these efforts failed, Weirton filed suit and looked to DisputeSoft to assist in discovery negotiations and begin investigations towards preparing an expert report.

    In March 2013, Weirton Medical Center and Siemens Medical Solutions entered agreements wherein Siemens would implement its enterprise healthcare software solution, Soarian, to support many of Weirton’s core business functions, both clinical and administrative. In addition, Siemens would provide on-site “managed services” to support the Soarian system and other Weirton IT systems.

    Both the implementation and subsequent managed services encountered repeated problems related to system deficiencies, unexpected additional costs, and performance of on-site Siemens and Cerner IT services personnel. Less than a year into the project, Weirton formally notified Siemens of its complaints that the Soarian software was defective and had not been fully implemented.

    Nature of Dispute

    In August 2014, Cerner acquired Siemens’ health information technology business unit, including the Soarian software and its associated managed services practice. In press releases and direct discussions with Weirton, Cerner assured Siemens’ customers that the acquisition would have no impact on the future development of the Soarian software or support services. However, Weirton alleged that Cerner:

    1
    Subsequently failed to remedy the complaints Weirton had with the Soarian software as implemented.
    2
    Insisted that Weirton would need to upgrade to a more expensive Cerner product in order to meet its business needs, and pay higher managed services fees for Cerner to provide the services Weirton contended were in the scope of the original contract.
    3
    Manipulated data in the “ticketing” system used to keep track of Cerner’s responsiveness to Weirton’s service requests in order to falsely claim adherence to the Service Level Agreements (SLAs) in the contract.

    After months of failed negotiations and mediation, Weirton filed suit against both Siemens and Cerner over alleged software defects, managed services failures, and Cerner’s “orphaning” of the Soarian software in favor of its own products.

    Our Services

    As software experts, DisputeSoft:

    1
    Advised Weirton counsel in pre-litigation negotiations and mediation, based on preliminary review of documents and interviews of fact witness.
    2
    Assisted counsel in navigating contentious discovery disputes, including submission of affidavits seeking production of databases and source code in Cerner’s custody.
    3
    Analyzed help desk “ticketing” data to assess whether Cerner manipulated service ticket priority levels and failed to resolve service requests in accordance with the SLA.

    In October 2019, the parties entered into a settlement agreement prior to DisputeSoft issuing an expert report.

    Learn more about our services with regard to Outsourcing and Managed Services

    DisputeSoft provides assistance to law firms engaged in complex software and managed services disputes.