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Particle Health said Monday that the “vast majority” of its customers are still receiving records from medical software giant Epic Systems despite an ongoing dispute between the two companies over data-sharing practices.
Epic supports more than 300 million patient records, and Particle acts as an intermediary that helps healthcare organizations access the data they need. The two companies belong to an interoperable network called Carequality, which facilitates the widespread sharing of patient information.
On March 21, Epic filed a formal dispute with Carequality citing concerns that Particle and the organizations involved in it “may inaccurately represent the purpose associated with its log retrieval operations.” To join the Carequality Network, organizations must be approved and adhere to “permitted purposes,” generally related to treatment, for sharing patient records.
Patient data is protected under a federal law called the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, which requires patient consent or knowledge for third-party access.
Particle said in a statement on Monday that although Epic “randomly stopped responding” to data requests from some of its customers due to the dispute, most customers were not affected. The company said it is pressing Epic to restore contact with affected customers, many of whom have already returned to normal.
“While there is an ongoing dispute between Epic and Particle Health, relating to three specific customers, the vast majority of Particle Health customers affected by Epic’s actions were in no way related to this dispute,” the company said in the statement.
In a statement to CNBC on Monday, Epic said it discovered that some Particle customers were accessing patients' medical records by “falsely claiming to be treating them as patients.” Epic said that after the review, its customers asked the company to block a “small number” of groups from using Particle's Carequality connection to access their data.
“This violates the guidelines and spirit of care, which were created to promote interoperability to improve treatment for patients,” Epic said in the statement.
Epic said its customers asked Particle to provide more information about how these organizations used medical records before restoring access to them.
Particle CEO Jason Prestinario said in his company statement that the startup will address the dispute with Epic through formal procedural channels.
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