Responding to an antitrust lawsuit the company faces from Particle Health, Epic Systems is asking the Carequality interoperability network to share some further information about the dispute.

The EHR vendor is calling for the Carequality interoperability network to release some details about a formal complaint Epic made against the young data analytics company earlier this year over certain patient data requests. 

Particle Health, meanwhile, says it's confident that the information would vindicate its antitrust claims filed in court. 

For its part, Carequality says it is unable to release the information until its dispute process is completed. 

In a new statement sent to Healthcare IT News by email Monday night, Epic notified Carequality that it would not appeal the network's decision on the dispute. The deadline is Thursday.

"It has been more than six months since the dispute was filed. An appeal could push the resolution well into next year." a spokesperson from Epic said.

WHY IT MATTERS
Epic is driven to lead on interoperability as well as defend patient privacy, the company explained in its latest response to Particle Health's complaint of antitrust violations.

"At the direction of our customer governing council, we filed a dispute through the Carequality interoperability network against Particle Health because some Particle customers used the network to take people’s medical records under false pretenses," Epic said in a statement on Friday.

"For example, a business, Integritort, claimed to be treating patients when in fact it was gathering medical records for personal injury law firms to review for potential class action lawsuits." 

While Integritort previously denied the allegations, Particle dropped the company in March in the patient data tug of war, according to Politico.

"Carequality’s Steering Committee has overseen the dispute and issued their resolution," Epic said. "Particle has publicly mischaracterized the resolution." 

Particle's response was short and to the point.

"Carequality asked that the resolution remain confidential," a spokesperson for Particle told Healthcare IT News on Friday. "If Carequality wishes to release it now, we have no objection."

In response to this volleying between the two parties, Carequality reiterated that, while it is "committed to the integrity and transparency" of its interoperability framework through an independent and unbiased dispute resolution process, the resolution is still subject to appeal. 

"We will disclose more information once the process has come to a conclusion," the network said.

For its part, Particle has focused on a different data requester to illustrate Epic's tactics, in its lawsuit filed on September 23 in the Southern District of New York. 

The company said Epic made patient data from the OneOncology network unavailable to health systems for more than 2,900 patients – "deliberately blocking important clinical information to doctors who work on Epic’s EHR software," according to a blog statement.

In the complaint, Particle said it was not only unable to assist the specialty cancer treatment network in sending medical records to large academic medical centers, but when Epic suspended OneOncology, it caused adverse impacts on those patients. 

"Epic's own customers became unable to onboard new cancer patients who came to them from OneOncology and were in dire need of medical care," Particle said.

The provider threatened to breach its contract after it was excluded by Epic, according to the lawsuit, and the EHR behemoth's "stranglehold" on U.S. medical records has caused Particle's revenue to drop dramatically.

We reached out to OneOncology for comment on its inability to send patient health information and will update this story if there is a response from the provider network.

THE LARGER TREND

Particle alleges that Epic Systems is misusing its EHR monopoly not only to prevent its provider customers from getting full patient medical records, but also to bar the company from competing in the fledgling payer platform market. 

In its official complaint, Particle said the Carequality Steering Committee "fully agreed with Particle's arguments expressly finding that Particle did absolutely nothing wrong" and Epic's dispute "had no basis in fact."

The company also said the fact that it received a corrective action plan from the committee was "indication of Epic's strong influence over that body."

"After Epic’s clear abuse of power, we believe it is our responsibility to defend our mission, which drives innovation and ensures that patients receive an ethical and transparent quality of care," Jason Prestinario, Particle's CEO, said in a social media post about the lawsuit. 

ON THE RECORD

"Particle should join Epic in asking Carequality to release the resolution immediately so that patients, healthcare organizations, other network participants, interoperability advocates, lawmakers and journalists can evaluate the facts for themselves," Epic said in a statement.

"To protect patient privacy and restore trust in interoperability, the Carequality Steering Committee’s corrective action plan should go into effect immediately," the company added in a subsequent statement.

"Carequality should now release the steering committee resolution in full. A summary is not sufficient. Trust cannot be restored without transparency."

"To preserve the integrity of our dispute resolution process, Carequality will disclose more information when the resolution is final and the process has come to a conclusion," a spokesperson for the network told Healthcare IT News by email in response on Tuesday. "Much of the information contributed to this process is commercially sensitive and marked confidential, and we will act to maintain the trust of all who have contributed.

"We urge all parties to work through the process so that it may come to a conclusion."  

This article was updated on October 1, 2024, with new statements from Epic and Carequality.

Andrea Fox is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.