A federal judge made a ruling in the high-profile antitrust lawsuit against electronic health record giant Epic, dismissing several claims while allowing others to move forward. The lawsuit was filed by startup Particle Health last year, accusing Epic of using its dominant market position to stifle competition in payer tools. Epic had filed a motion to dismiss the suit in December.
The judge dismissed five out of nine claims made by Particle, including allegations of maintaining a conspiracy to maintain market dominance, defamation, and trade libel. However, the court allowed three federal antitrust claims and Particle’s claim of interference with a business contract to proceed.
Particle, a startup established in 2018, aimed to assist healthcare organizations in sharing and analyzing data. The company filed the lawsuit in September 2024, alleging that Epic was leveraging its EHR dominance to control the payer platform market. Epic had lodged a complaint with interoperability framework Carequality, accusing Particle of inappropriate data labeling and concealing the identities of data requesters.
Epic’s actions, including ceasing responses to EHR requests from Particle customers and imposing additional requirements on Particle users, led to delays in onboarding new customers. The dispute escalated when Epic sought to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that Particle failed to define a relevant product market and lacked evidence of anticompetitive behavior.
However, the judge determined that Particle had sufficiently demonstrated the existence of a market for payer-specific tools and potential anticompetitive conduct by Epic. The court’s decision was welcomed by Particle, with CEO Jason Prestinario expressing satisfaction with the ruling and highlighting the significance of the case against Epic.
Moving forward, Epic looks forward to presenting evidence to address the remaining claims, while Particle remains optimistic about the progress made in the case. The denial of Epic’s motion to dismiss the core monopolization antitrust claims signifies a significant milestone in the legal battle. This development marks a pivotal moment in Epic’s history, underscoring the potential implications of the ongoing litigation.
