FTC Probes Epic Systems Over Antitrust Practices
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- FTC is examining Epic Systems Corp., the nation's largest vendor of electronic health records, for potential antitrust violations as part of a broad inquiry into the company's business practices.
- Investigators have contacted four people who work in or advise health care businesses that interface with Epic, asking about a wide range of company policies and practices that have generated continual complaints and lawsuits.
- One line of inquiry focuses on Epic's agreements that bar its employees from working for a wide swath of health care businesses that directly or indirectly compete with the company.
- A second set of questions targets Epic's use of its dominant market position and leverage over hospital customers to block rival technology companies from getting access to patient data and information needed to support their businesses.
- The probe is in its early stages and may never lead to charges, according to the people contacted by investigators.
Why it matters: Epic's dominant market position and control of Americans' health data has rapidly accelerated in recent years, and the policies under scrutiny — non-compete agreements and data-blocking against rivals — have drawn continual complaints from former employees and competing companies. A formal case could force Epic to alter how it contracts with hospitals and restrict competitors' access to patient records, reshaping competition across the health IT sector.
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