A nurse at the Dell Children’s Medical Center emergency room searches electronic medical records in this file photo. The nation’s biggest medical records provider is being sued in Texas for its alleged monopolistic stranglehold on records.
Austin American-Statesman
The nation’s largest electronic medical records vendor is being called out in a new federal lawsuit for its stranglehold on the market and the tactics it has taken to keep it.
Wisconsin-based Epic Systems Corp.’s actions through its MyChart system hinders patients’ ability to obtain and share complete health records, according to the lawsuit filed Monday in Austin. That has prevented people with disabilities from speedy federal determinations that can provide money and support through life-altering circumstances.
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The proposed class action was filed by the American Association for Disability Justice, Austin resident Larry Miller and John Hodges.
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It details the experiences of Miller’s son, John, and Hodges, whom the association says are representative of many disabled people. Both had diseases eligible for federal relief through the Social Security Administration. Because of Epic, though, they suffered delays that pushed them into continued health impairment and, for Hodges, homelessness.
In a statement, Epic Systems disputed the allegations, calling them baseless.
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“We make it easy for claimants to exchange their medical records with SSA and last year over 2.7 million records were exchanged electronically between SSA and organizations using Epic,” a company spokesperson said.
Epic Systems is the largest holder of electronic medical records in the country by number of beds, according to IBISWorld, an industry researcher. The company maintains records for more than 250 million patients.
The suit alleges the company was propelled to its position due to legal mandates and government subsidies and uses its market share to maintain its dominance to the detriment of people with disabilities, holding their data “hostage.”
“Epic’s monopolistic tactics positioned it as the gatekeeper to patient EHR (electronic health records) and Epic abuses that power to delay, restrict, or completely prevent access to that EHR by companies that compete or could potentially compete with Epic,” the suit alleges.
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That especially harms people with disabilities who need prompt access to records.
John Miller was a car salesman in Austin whose diabetes was so severe he often fainted and could not hold a job. Seeking care at area emergency rooms and Sandra Joy Anderson Community Care, the suit says, his health declined leading, to diabetic complications, amputations and visual impairments. But when he applied for Social Security disability benefits he was denied for insufficient medical evidence because, the suit alleges, neither he nor the federal government could access his records. He died before receiving federal benefits.
John Hodges was a small business owner disabled by a series of heart attacks. When he applied for Social Security disability benefits, he needed records from multiple hospitals and clinics. Because each hospital using MyChart requires separate login credentials for the same patient, the lawsuit says, the application took years to resolve. As a result, Hodges lost his income, home and custody of his daughter.
The association filed the lawsuit on the men’s behalf, saying many of its disabled constituents suffer from the same broken system. They are seeking a class action, arguing Epic has violated the Sherman Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, Texas Free Enterprise and Antitrust Act, Rehabilitation Act, and 21st Century Cures Act.
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It alleges that Epic has used its market power to “coerce” hospitals to buy its products, namely MyChart. It intentionally made the product hard to operate with other companies’ products in violation of federal law. The cost of replacing the systems, the lengthy process and the need for them to be reliable makes it unlikely that hospitals will change them.
“Even well-funded technology companies face significant obstacles in developing enterprise (electronic health record) systems capable of competing with Epic’s installed hospital network,” the suit alleges.
The 21st Century Cures Act was passed in 2016 to stop “information blocking.”
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But the association says that when it attempted to build its own tool to extract the necessary medical records from various health record systems, Epic records still did not come through. It says the company was intentionally blocking extraction with unnecessary privacy verifications.