Texas Sues Major Health Records Database for Allegedly Gatekeeping Data
Epic Systems monopolizes the electronic health records industry and restricts parental access to their children’s medical records through deceptive practices, Texas said in a lawsuit Thursday.
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Filed in state court, the complaint accuses Epic of controlling who, when and on what terms the medical data it stores can be accessed, "despite the simple fact that it is the hospitals' and patients' data, not Epic's." Epic houses almost 90% of all U.S. citizen's records, which means it controls the databases "and thereby, the patients' records themselves."
Epic gatekeeps this data by "delaying, restricting or completely preventing access" to the records by potential competitors, and "coerces" customers into not switching to a competitor, said the state. Further, the software it sells to Texas health care providers comes "preconfigured" to remove parents' access to their children's records once they reach age 12, in violation of Texas law, AG Ken Paxton said.
“We will not allow woke corporations to undermine the sacred rights of parents to protect and oversee their kids’ medical well-being,” he said in a release. Texans should be able to “readily obtain access to these records and benefit from the lower costs and innovation that come from a truly competitive electronic health records market.”
This suit comes after Paxton restored parental access to children’s medical files with medical provider Austin Diagnostic Clinic in October (see 2510100026).
In an email to Privacy Daily, Epic told us that Texas' action is "flawed and misguided by its failure to understand" Epic’s business model and market position and "the enormous contributions" the company has made to the nation's healthcare system.
"Every month, we improve quality of care by helping providers see a more comprehensive picture of their patient through over 725 million record exchanges -- more than any other electronic health records vendor -- and over half of these are with non-Epic systems," it added. "Health systems using Epic shared information with almost 1,000 patient-facing apps 2 billion times in the past year."
In addition, it said "Epic does not determine parental access to children’s medical records." Doctors and health systems make "decisions about parental access to children’s medical records, not ... Epic."