Epic is pushing back against allegations by the state of Texas that it monopolizes the electronic health record market and unlawfully restricts parental access to minors’ medical records. It argued in a court filing this week that the claims made by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton are flawed, both legally and factually.
The lawsuit, which was filed last month, alleged that the quality of patient care in the state was diminished because providers received incomplete or out-of-date patient health records. These anticompetitive practices also harmed Texas hospitals and patients by raising costs and blocking innovative technologies, it said.
“We will not allow woke corporations to undermine the sacred rights of parents to protect and oversee their kids’ medical wellbeing,” Paxton said at the time of the filing. “This lawsuit aims to ensure that Texans can readily obtain access to these records and benefit from the lower costs and innovation that come from a truly competitive electronic health records market.”
In its filing this week, Epic denied all allegations and said it plans to request that the lawsuit be dismissed. It said the state failed to identify any anticompetitive conduct or any instance in which an Epic customer violated Texas law regarding parental access to health records.
Epic also countered allegations in that it restricts parental access when a child turns 12, in violation of a relevant Texas Health and Safety Code. The company said customers, not Epic, configure such settings. Furthermore, it said, Texas failed to identify a single customer out of compliance with the statute, despite conducting a six-month civil investigation before filing suit.
Finally, Epic’s filing also challenged the state’s antitrust allegations, including claims related to interoperability, application programming interface pricing, product roadmaps and employee noncompete agreements. Texas mischaracterized its business practices and disregarded evidence from the investigation showing that Epic facilitates large-scale data exchange with non-Epic systems, it said.
This case is part of a broader effort by the attorney general’s office to examine electronic health record vendors’ compliance with Texas laws governing parental access to minors’ health records.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.