Monday Morning Update 9

Monday Morning Update 9/8/25 Top News A federal judge partially grants Epic’s motion to dismiss claims that were brought against it in a September 2024 lawsuit by Particle Health (my summary is here). Most monopoly-related claims survived because the judge wasn’t comfortable evaluating the payer market or its players in the limited context of a dismissal motion. The four of nine claims that were not dismissed will proceed to discovery. Epic claimed that some of Particle’s customers were retrieving medical records for claimed treatment purposes but were actually using them to identify potential plaintiffs for class action lawsuits. The judge said further proceedings must determine whether a distinct “payer market” exists and whether Epic and Particle actually compete in it. Claim 1: monopolization in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act (not dismissed). Claim 2: attempted monopolization (not dismissed). Claim 3: monopoly leveraging (not dismissed) Claim 4: violation of Sherman Act (dismissed). Claim 5: violation of New York business law (dismissed). Claim 6: tortious interference with contractual relations (not dismissed). Claim 7: tortious interference with prospective business relations (dismissed). Claim 8: defamation (dismissed). Claim 9: trade libel (dismissed). My take: winning a monopoly cases is rare, and Particle must prove a specific payer market where Epic and Particle are the only players with no viable substitutes. The judge wasn’t signaling the validity of Particle’s claims by failing to dismiss them, only reinforcing that a dismissal petition review wasn’t the place to judge them. Should Particle’s monopoly claims fall short, Claim #6 — in which Particle claims that Epic encouraged XCures to breach its Particle contract — is the only one that could harm Epic, and the economic value of that claim seems low. Also, the similar Claim #7 was dismissed because “general awareness of a competitor’s success” isn’t enough to prove tortious interference, so Particle will need to prove that Epic pressured XCures to break its contract without justification. Reader Comments From Pointy Ears: “Re: Oracle Health. They are learning the lessons that every company learned when trying to dabble in healthcare. It’s not their fault.” Oracle seemed surprised at Cerner’s dated technology and shaky business only after shelling out $28 billion in cash, so due diligence wasn’t their long suit. The old-school read of the acquisition is that they saw healthcare as a big growth market that is dominated by little-known vendors. The modern view is that they wanted to upsell Cerner’s customers, grab patient data, one-up the cloud giants with a sexy story for stock analysts, and indulge Larry Ellison’s vanity project. Outsiders rarely do well in healthcare software, with Microsoft (via Nuance) and Philips the exceptions and Google, GE, Haven, and IBM the train wrecks. Larry’s political ties will likely protect the VA contract unless any system-related veteran harm is widely reported, but three years in, Oracle has mostly lost share to Epic, laid off the people who knew the business, and overpromised an Oracle-branded wrapper on top of the same old Millennium system that was already driving customers away (years-long customer problems with Cerner’s RCM didn’t involve UI). History also shows that the employees and customers who stick around through such turmoil are usually the ones who have the fewest options, i.e. aren’t the ones you would choose. Cerner may be Oracle’s Siebel Systems, and if you’re asking what the heck is Siebel, then that’s the point. HIStalk Announcements and Requests Poll respondents predict that health systems will be significantly hurt by recent federal policy changes. New poll to your right or here: What risk is most often overlooked when adopting clinical AI? I’m sympathetic to the Oracle Health folks who are being cut loose because of management’s failings rather than their own. Is your company looking people like those who might have been made involuntarily available? I’ll waive my policy and encourage you to comment on this post that you’re hiring and maybe specify the type of roles you have open. Thanks to the following companies that recently supported HIStalk. Click a logo for more information. Your support helps when it’s time for companies to renew their annual sponsorship because they often want to know the result (ad clicks, comments, buzz, and market awareness). Sponsored Events and Resources Online Event: September 16 (Tuesday) 11:30 a.m. ET. “Waystar Innovation Showcase: Activating Advanced Automation + AI to Transform Healthcare RCM.” Join us for Waystar’s Fall Innovation Showcase to see the tools and tactics that are transforming healthcare payments and driving real, measurable results, like a 36% boost in workforce efficiency. In just one hour, we’ll reveal major advancements helping teams streamline processes, ensure accuracy, and speed reimbursement with AI + less manual work. Contact Lorre to have your resource listed. Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock MediSpend and RLDatix subsidiary RLDatix Life Sciences will merge to offer software, data, and workflow tools for life sciences. Sales Allina Health selects Five9 as its cloud contact center provider. People Bryan Pruitt (NetApp) joins CloudWave as SVP for enterprise growth. Privacy and Security Sutter Health fires several urgent care employees who posted “insensitive” TikTok videos of themselves posing with patient bodily fluids. Most surprising is that the former employees didn’t bother obscuring their identities, which wasn’t smart even by TikTok user standards. Other Scammers are using AI to create videos in which doctors appear to pitch quack products, which a cybersecurity group attributes to a global operation. Eric Topol, MD reports that dozens of AI-generated knockoffs of his new book are being sold on Amazon, some of which were bought by his patients. Sponsor Updates SmartSense by Digi supports the Snoqualmie Indian Tribe Ancestral Lands Movement as a sponsor of its charity golf tournament. Medicomp Systems releases a new episode of its “Tell Me Where IT Hurts” podcast featuring PointClickCare CMO Hamad Husainy, DO. Symplr publishes its fourth annual Compass Survey titled “Progress Stalled: How Crisis Culture is Costing Healthcare.” Nordic releases a new episode of its “Designing for Health” podcast featuring Marina Gerner, PhD. Nym names Lihi Shoham and Dvir Winder software engineers, Shahar Siman Tov and Ido Lindman medical data analysts, Reina Suescun director of strategy and operations, and Niv Eckhaus NLP research engineer. Rhapsody will present at the Civitas Networks for Health Annual Conference September 29 in Anaheim, CA. TeamBuilder will present at The Millenium Alliance’s Transformation Assembly September 9-10 in Dallas. Visage Imaging announces it has been granted an Authority to Operate for the Veterans Affairs Enterprise Cloud by the VA for its Visage 7 CloudPACS. Waystar will exhibit at EClinicalWorks Day September 10 in Houston. WellSky publishes a new report titled “Addressing today’s healthcare workforce challenges: Results from a national study.” Blog Posts Why No-Contract, Pay-as-You-Go Pricing Allows Healthcare Contact Centers to Better Control Their Costs (CTG) Scaling impact with personalized healthcare for member-centric success (Wolters Kluwer Health) Bringing an Academic Medical Center and Regional Health System onto a Single Oracle Fusion Instance (Impact Advisors) Front Office Tactics for Revenue Success After the Open Enrollment Period (Inovalon) Navigating Value-Based Care: What It Means for Rehab Therapy (Netsmart) The Rise of Emoji in Healthcare Communication (PerfectServe) Driving Smarter, Connected Care: How Force Therapeutics + Redox Integrate to Streamline Provider Workflows (Redox) CIOs: Crisis Culture Is Killing Our Progress (Here’s How to Fix It) (Symplr) Advocacy, Resiliency, and Rural Health: A CFO’s Perspective (CereCore) Contacts