Judge Continues Silence Order In E-Health Records DisputeJudge Continues Silence Order In E-Health Records Dispute

An Oregon judge on Wednesday continued the order of silence against Omnidex, a provider of e-health records, ruling in favor of Dossia, a coalition of six big companies, including Intel and Wal-Mart, that hired Omnidex.

At a hearing on Wed. in the circuit court of Oregon in Multnomah County, Judge Edward Jones ruled that a restraining order would continue against Ominimedix, preventing the company from discussing in public details of its dispute with Dossia.

The parties also agreed to go into private arbitration to battle their argument, says Donna Lee, judicial clerk for Judge Jones.

The judge's ruling also means that if Omnimedix chooses to file a suit against Dossia down the line, the case would be a sealed, meaning details of the dispute would not be made public, says Lee.

The dispute hit a boiling point in late June when Dossia filed for a restraining order to prevent Omnimedix from filing a public lawsuit against Dossia.

In its June court filing, Dossia said it would "suffer immediate and irreparable harm" if Omnimedix files a public suit that reveals confidential details of the parties' agreement.

What is known about their agreement and the dispute so far is based on public testimony of Dossia executives and court documents filed up to this point.

According to court papers, the contract signed by Dossia and Omnimedix on Dec. 14, 2006, required Dossia to pay Omnimedix a total of $15 million, in quarterly installments of $1.25 million over the three-year life of the agreement.

Omnimedix was to build a massive, federated database that would be enhanced by third-party applications, and would provide e-health records to more than 2.5 million employees, retirees, and dependents of Dossia members, which include Wal-Mart, Intel, British Petroleum, Pitney Bowes, Applied Materials and Cardinal Health.

The system was to begin going online for some Dossia members by mid-2007, or about now. However, a source familiar with the case says that in March when Omnimedix failed to hit a project milestone, Dossia withheld its quarterly payment to Omnimedix in April.

Government and health industry officials were very enthusiastic about Dossia's e-health record project when Dossia and Omnimedix announced the effort last December.