Epic Systems launches Particle Health for unauthorized data sharing | Wilnesh News

Epic Systems, the largest provider of medical records management software, says a venture-backed startup called Particle Health is using patient data in unauthorized and unethical ways that have nothing to do with treatment.

Epic told customers in a notice Thursday that it cut off its connection to Particle, hampering the company’s ability to leverage a system with more than 300 million patient records. Particle is one of several companies that acts as an intermediary between Epic and organizations that need the data, typically hospitals and clinics.

Patient data is sensitive and valuable by its nature, and it is protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), a federal law that requires patient consent or knowledge for third-party access.One way to access your Epic electronic health record (EHR) is through an interoperability network called the Interoperability Network Nursing qualityAccording to its website, it facilitates the exchange of more than 400,000 documents per month. Particle is a member of the Carequality Network.

To join the network, organizations must be vetted and must agree to adhere to clear “permitted purposes” for exchanging patient information. Epic responds to requests for data that fall within the permitted purposes of “processing,” which means that the recipient is providing care to the person from whom they requested the records.

Epic said in Thursday’s notice that it filed a formal dispute with Carequality on March 21, citing concerns that Particle and its participating organizations “may have inaccurately represented the purposes associated with its records retrieval.” The company suspended ties with Particle that day.

“This creates potential security and privacy risks, including possible violations of the HIPAA Privacy Rule,” Epic said in a notice obtained by CNBC.

in a Blog article Late on Friday, Carequality said it “takes disputes very seriously and is committed to maintaining the integrity of the dispute resolution process and trustworthy communications within the framework”. The organization said it could not comment on whether there was any controversy or membership activity.

Representatives for Epic and Particle did not respond to requests for comment.

Epic is a 45-year-old privately held company headquartered in Wisconsin. this Largest Electronic Medical Records Provider According to the May report, U.S. hospital market share was 36% Klass Research. Oracle The company ranked second with a 25% share, following the software company’s $28 billion acquisition of Cerner in 2022.

According to data, as of July 2022, Particle has raised a total of $39.3 million in funding from investors including Menlo Ventures, Story Ventures, and Pruven Capital. freed. The New York-based startup said at the time that its technology “uniquely combines medical record data from more than 270 million patients by aggregating and unifying medical records from thousands of sources.”

Epic said Particle introduced thousands of new participant connections to Carequality in October, claiming they were therapeutic use cases. Epic said that in the following months, all Particle participating organizations asserted that their requests had permitted therapeutic purposes.

Epic and its Care Everywhere Governing Council of 15 industry representatives evaluated Particle’s new player connections and determined that organizations such as Integritort, MDPortals and Reveleer could Acquisition of MDPortals Last year “may not be consistent with the permitted purpose of treatment,” the notice said.

Epic said it has learned that another Carequality member is planning to file a dispute claiming that Integritort is using patient data to try to identify potential class action participants. On March 28, Epic said it discovered that a participant named Novellia claimed to have requested treatment records, despite publicly promoting its product as a “personal health tool.”

Integritort, Reveleer and Novellia did not respond to requests for comment.

Epic said it filed a formal dispute with Carequality based on the council’s advice. According to the notice, on April 4, Epic asked Particle to provide more information on how its participants qualify for the therapeutic use case.

Michael Marchant, director of interoperability and innovation at UC Davis Health, serves as chair of Epic’s Board of Governors. He said it was difficult to know exactly why Particle provided records to these groups or whether it intentionally engaged in inappropriate behavior. But he said companies must act responsibly even under pressure to deliver financial performance.

“If they were selling to an organization that they knew we were not therapeutically related to try to match venture capital funding or margins or revenue targets or whatever, then that would be really bad,” Marchant said in an interview with CNBC. .

in a Statement on LinkedIn On Wednesday, Particle founder Troy Bannister said Epic’s actions were unilateral and that Particle had seen “no justification, justification or official statement” surrounding the issues.

Bannister wrote that to the company’s knowledge, “all affected partners directly support treatment.” Those organizations pull data for care providers and share it with the Care Quality Network, he said.

“While we continue to engage with Carequality, one implementer decided to wholesale disconnect providers without evidence or even warning, jeopardizing clinical operations for hundreds of thousands of patients and trust in healthcare institutions. For trust-based The exchange is crucial,” Bannister wrote.

Bannister did not respond to Epic’s April 4 request for more information.

Formal dispute proceedings are still ongoing. Marchant, who also co-chairs the Carequality advisory committee, said this is the first time in the network’s history that such a serious complaint has been filed.

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