Particle Health sues Epic Systems over antitrust violations

Health IT vendor Particle Health has filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against EHR vendor Epic Systems Corporation, which controls the health information of up to 94% of Americans.

Filed in the Southern District of New York, the suit alleges Epic is using its monopoly power over EHRs to bar Particle from the emerging payer platform market.

"Epic Systems controls the medical information of nearly every American -- meaning one private company has unchecked power over our healthcare," Jason Prestinario, Particle Health CEO, said in a press release. "Now, Epic is using that power to thwart an emerging industry intended to bring payers and providers into closer collaboration for better patient care."

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP filed the antitrust suit on behalf of Particle. The suit seeks an adjudication that Epic has violated the Sherman Act, a fundamental law in U.S. antitrust enforcement. Additionally, it seeks monetary damages and injunctive relief to stop Epic's anticompetitive behavior.

Particle's lawsuit alleges that Epic is using its dominance in the EHR market to bar competition in the payer platform market. This emerging market aims to transform paper- and fax-based processes into scalable systems for analyzing health records and predicting patient risk.

Like others in the emerging sector, Particle relies on safe and secure health information exchange. However, the complaint alleges Epic's actions have inappropriately hampered this exchange.

Timely and complete medical information is critical to effective care. Regrettably, Epic is hoarding the data, showing how it can rapidly seize control of all markets that depend on the clinical records that rightfully belong to patients.

"Our healthcare system stands at a crossroads," Prestinario said. "Timely and complete medical information is critical to effective care. Regrettably, Epic is hoarding the data, showing how it can rapidly seize control of all markets that depend on the clinical records that rightfully belong to patients."

Over the past six months, Epic has used a "multi-tentacled approach to try to squash Particle," according to vendor officials. This has included barring data access for Particle's customers, lobbing now-discredited complaints and overwhelming Particle's support operations by fueling "baseless security concerns."

Epic's manipulation of EHR data access is having negative impacts on doctors and patients, according to Particle. For instance, the complaint underscores how a network of community oncology practices has seen over 2,800 patients' quality of care harmed due to Epic deliberately blocking important clinical data to doctors who work on Epic's EHR software.

These records, which providers using Epic EHRs should have received -- and Particle has tried to deliver -- have been blocked by Epic.

This "shows just how far Epic is willing to go to harm Particle: it is willing to cut its own customers off from vital patient data, risking the lives of the most vulnerable patients in the process," the complaint states.

"Particle's mission is to unlock the power of medical records in an intelligent platform that focuses health back on the patient, improving healthcare for providers and health plans, too," Prestinario said. "We don't take this action lightly, but when patient care is being harmed and powerful incumbents are stymying progress, we're forced to do something."

‍Hannah Nelson has been covering news related to health information technology and health data interoperability since 2020.