In a lawsuit filed this past week, the Medical University of South Carolina accused a group of soon-to-be-former employees of divulging trade secrets to another health system in an attempt to develop a rival treatment program.

According to the complaint, which was filed in Charleston County Court, a group of doctors allegedly planned to carry out a "wholesale departure" of physicians, nurses, technicians, staff and fellows in MUSC's Division of Head and Neck Oncology.   

MUSC claimed the group did so in order to establish a head and neck practice at HCA Healthcare's Trident Medical Center, also in Charleston.  

"On information and belief, the physicians acted in concert, with each other and with HCA and Trident, to engage in unlawful conduct and lawful conduct using unlawful means to effectuate their overall plan and scheme to the injury of MUSC and [University Medical Associates]," according to the complaint.  

Trident and HCA Healthcare did not respond to requests for comment by press time.  

WHY IT MATTERS  

According to MUSC, a key part of the physicians' alleged scheme involved the misappropriation of confidential information.  

As the filing outlined, as it built its HNO Division over the past 20 years, MUSC identified and purchased the equipment necessary to perform "sophisticated and complicated" surgical procedures.   

It also developed physician preference cards and instrument lists to perform those procedures.  

These preference cards are at the heart of MUSC's complaint: They catalog specific tools, supplies, room setup, types and brands of instruments, pharmaceuticals and processes to follow for each specialized procedure.  

MUSC's cards are not available in the public domain. Accessing them requires a two-factor authentication system, according to the health system.  

"While still employed by MUSC, without any authority or justification for doing so and in violation of their duties to MUSC, defendants … directed a registered nurse employed by MUSC to send MUSC physician preference cards to HCA, which she did by email correspondence to HCA," the complaint alleged.  

"Without the misappropriated physician preference cards and instrument lists, the defendant physicians would not be able to quickly establish the facilities, processes, and procedures to perform these complicated head and neck procedures at HCA’s Trident Medical Center."  

MUSC also accused various defendants of obtaining MUSC's instrument list and emailing it to HCA, of trying to obtain patient lists and of providing case logs to HCA.   

All six physicians named in the lawsuits are scheduled to stop working at MUSC as of November 30.  

The health system is accusing the defendants of breach of duty of loyalty, interference with contractual relationships, civil conspiracy, breach of contract, unfair trade practices and misappropriation of trade secrets.

It is seeking an injunction to stop the doctors' alleged plan, as well as damages.  

THE LARGER TREND   

Proprietary information is a hot commodity in the healthcare space, particularly where innovation is concerned.   

Just this month, the U.S. Supreme Court invited the Solicitor General to weigh in about a case involving trade secrets and compensatory damages between the electronic health record vendor Epic and Tata Consultancy Services.   

In March of this year, the post-acute care company CareCentrix filed a corporate espionage lawsuit against its competitor, Signify.   

As outlined in CareCentrix's complaint, general manager and vice president of product Marcus Lanznar spied on his employer at the behest of Signify.  

Meanwhile, telehealth giant Teladoc filed a lawsuit against competitor Amwell this past October, accusing it of alleged patent infringement.   

ON THE RECORD  

"In summary, the defendant physicians have obtained MUSC’s confidential and proprietary information with the intent to use this information and/or provide this information to HCA for the development of a head and neck cancer treatment department at HCA’s Trident Medical Center, all in violation of the duties owed by the physicians to MUSC," read the complaint.

Kat Jercich is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Twitter: @kjercich
Email: kjercich@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.