Epic Systems, a major provider of medical records management software, raised concerns about how Particle Health, a venture-backed startup, was using patient data in unauthorized ways that were not related to treatment. Epic cut off its connection to Particle, impacting the startup’s access to over 300 million patient records. Patient data is protected by HIPAA and accessed through interoperability networks like Carequality. Epic filed a dispute with Carequality over concerns that Particle and its participants were misrepresenting the purpose of their record retrievals, leading to potential privacy violations. Carequality stated it takes disputes seriously but cannot comment on ongoing issues.
Particle had raised $39.3 million from investors and claimed to aggregate and unify healthcare records from thousands of sources. Epic noticed anomalies in the data exchange patterns with Particle and determined that some participant organizations were not conforming to the permitted purpose of treatment. The company filed formal disputes and requested additional information from Particle. Concerns were raised about potential misuse of patient data for non-treatment purposes. The dispute process is ongoing.
The situation has been described as the first time in Carequality’s history that a complaint has progressed this far. Particle founder Troy Bannister disputed Epic’s actions, stating that Particle had not been provided with justifications or official claims about the issues raised. The formal dispute process is still underway as the organizations involved seek to resolve the conflict.
Epic Systems, a leading provider of software for managing medical records, has accused a startup called Particle Health of using patient data in unauthorized and unethical ways that do not relate to treatment. Particle acts as a middleman between organizations and Epic, facilitating the exchange of patient data. Epic cut off its connection to Particle due to concerns about potential HIPAA violations. Epic filed a dispute with Carequality, the network through which patient data is exchanged, over concerns that Particle and its participant organizations were misrepresenting the purposes associated with their record retrievals. Epic noticed anomalies in the patterns of patient record exchange from Particle’s connections, leading to suspicions of non-treatment use cases. Other organizations involved with Particle were also found to be using the data for potentially inappropriate purposes, such as identifying potential class action lawsuit participants. Particle denies any wrongdoing and claims that all affected partners support treatment purposes. The formal dispute process is ongoing, marking the first time in Carequality’s history that a complaint has reached this stage.
Source link
