What it’s essential know:

– Particle Well being, an organization that focuses on gathering and delivering actionable affected person knowledge, has filed a federal antitrust lawsuit in opposition to Epic Techniques Company.

– The lawsuit accuses Epic of abusing its dominant place within the digital well being file (EHR) market to hinder competitors within the rising cost platform market.

Epic's Alleged Anti-Aggressive Practices

Particle’s grievance alleges that Epic is actively thwarting the event of a market centered on modernizing healthcare knowledge analytics and enhancing affected person care. The cost platform market seeks to remodel outdated, paper-based processes into environment friendly, scalable methods able to analyzing medical information, predicting affected person threat, and driving higher healthcare selections.

To attain this, corporations like Particle depend on the safe trade of healthcare data. Nonetheless, Epic’s actions have disrupted this move, inflicting vital hurt to each healthcare suppliers and sufferers.

Epic's Ways to Suppress Competitors

The lawsuit particulars how Epic has allegedly deployed a multi-pronged technique to stifle Particle’s progress. Over the previous six months, Epic has shut off Particle’s clients’ entry to knowledge, unfold unfounded complaints, and overwhelmed Particle’s assist operations with unfounded safety issues.

Destructive affect on affected person care

The grievance additional highlights the real-world penalties of Epic’s alleged actions. A community of community-based oncology practices has reported that greater than 2,800 sufferers have skilled a decline within the high quality of care resulting from Epic’s intentional blocking of crucial medical data. This knowledge ought to have been accessible to suppliers utilizing Epic’s EHR software program, however Particle’s efforts to offer it have been thwarted.

“Epic Techniques controls the medical data of almost each American — which means one personal firm has unchecked energy over our healthcare,” mentioned Jason Prestinario, CEO of Particle Well being. “Now Epic is utilizing that energy to thwart a nascent business that goals to convey payers and suppliers nearer collectively for higher affected person care.”