New York City Health and Hospital Corp.'s decision to select Epic Systems Corp. as its electronic health-record vendor has drawn a protest from Allscripts.

Allscripts declined to release its protest saying it was not public. The city-owned hospital system said the protest was confidential. Glen Tullman, Allscripts CEO, said in an interview that the vendor rejected claims by HHC that rival bids by Epic and Allscripts were comparable on cost.

Allscripts would cost HHC $700 million less, he said. Tullman said the competing bids should be publicly reviewed.

HHC spokesman Ian Michaels said Allscripts' projected savings failed to include anticipated costs such as an estimated $375 million for HHC personnel to design, build and maintain the system and $146 million to connect the EMR to devices such as MRIs.

Tullman said the company “included all of the costs,” but would be cheaper because of its reliance on Microsoft.

The 15-year cost to the system to adopt and maintain Epic's EMR totaled $1.435 billion, which was minimally more expensive than the $1.404 billion for Allscripts' system, Michaels said. But after a four-year process of reviewing its options, HHC selected Epic because the vendor better met its needs, he said.

Epic would replace HHC's existing electronic medical-record system for up to $302.8 million under the contract, which is under negotiation, Michaels said. Allscripts bid was minimally less costly at $299 million.