Despite ongoing disputes with Epic Systems, the majority of Particle Health’s customers are still able to access records from the medical software giant. Epic supports over 300 million patient records and Particle serves as a mediator to help healthcare organizations obtain necessary data. Both companies are part of an interoperability network known as Carequality, which facilitates the exchange of patient information on a large scale.
On March 21, Epic filed a formal dispute with Carequality, expressing concerns that Particle and its participant organizations may be misrepresenting the purposes associated with their record retrievals. Organizations must be approved to join the Carequality network and adhere to “Permitted Purposes” for exchanging patient records, which typically revolve around treatment. Patient data is safeguarded by HIPAA, which requires patients’ consent or knowledge for third-party access.
Particle released a statement on Monday that despite Epic halting responses to data requests from some customers due to the dispute, the majority of clients were unaffected. The company has been urging Epic to reinstate connections to impacted customers and many have been restored to normal operation. The CEO of Particle, Jason Prestinario, emphasized that the dispute between Epic and Particle is specific to three customers and most affected customers are not involved in the disagreement.
Prestinario stated that he would address the dispute with Epic using official procedural methods. However, at this time it is unclear what those methods will entail or when they will be implemented. It is also important to note that no official comment has been made by Epic regarding this matter yet.
