Dive Brief:
- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing Epic, alleging the electronic health record giant wields monopolistic control over patients’ medical data.
- The lawsuit, filed in a Texas state court on Wednesday, also accuses Epic of restraining parents’ access to their children’s health information. The suit pointed to default settings on the company’s MyChart patient portal that limit parent proxy use when a patient turns 12 years old.
- The suit is “flawed and misguided,” failing to understand Epic’s business model and its position in the market, an Epic spokesperson told Healthcare Dive.
Dive Insight:
Epic’s software holds more than 325 million patient records, representing more than 90% of U.S. citizens, Texas wrote in the complaint. The health software firm uses that control to prevent hospitals from easily switching to other records vendors and stops other firms from competing, the suit alleges.
The complaint claims the EHR giant improperly denies or delays access to patient records by providers who chose not to use Epic, curtailing the movement of critical medical information and potentially delaying patient care. That deters providers from using other EHR vendors, according to the suit.
Slowing or stopping the flow of data also prevents other healthcare software firms and startups from competing, the complaint said. For example, a vendor looking to offer staffing software would need access to information on how many patients need services and the type of care.
“Epic’s pretextual denials or delays ensure that only Epic can decide which companies can compete, with which services, to which customers — thereby depriving customers of a competitive marketplace,” the state wrote in its lawsuit.
The complaint also points to noncompete agreements for Epic employees that smother other companies’ ability to recruit talent. As recently as 2019, Epic’s agreements barred former employees from working at thousands of firms that involve health software during noncompete periods, according to the suit.
The lawsuit against Epic is part of Paxton’s efforts to prevent EHR vendors from limiting parents’ access to children’s medical records, the state said in a press release. The attorney general settled with a clinic earlier this year after the provider’s record allegedly locked parents out of accounts when their children turned 12.
In a statement, Epic said it handles more than 725 million record exchanges each month, more than half of which are from non-Epic systems. The EHR vendor also noted that decisions about parents’ access are made by doctors and health systems.
Still, accusations that Epic prevents the free flow of health information are not new. The records giant has long been criticized for having smooth data sharing within its own Epic-branded systems, but difficulties exchanging data with its competitors. In early 2020, the company campaigned to stop sweeping HHS regulations promoting interoperability, or at least ease their data-sharing requirements. The rules were later finalized.
The Texas suit comes as Epic is facing another antitrust complaint. In September, a federal judge allowed a suit brought by startup Particle Health against the EHR vendor to move forward.
Rebecca Pifer contributed to this story.
