Federal regulators have released preliminary findings suggesting an association between the electronic health records giant and anticompetitive practices. However, experts caution that the sample size of one massive corporate behemoth is too small to draw definitive clinical conclusions.
The Federal Trade Commission and state investigators have opened a broad inquiry into the software corporation, which currently controls the medical histories of more than 250 million Americans. While early indicators point to aggressive market capture, regulators stressed that the correlation between holding a stranglehold on the nation's hospital infrastructure and operating an illegal monopoly is not necessarily causation.
The data, which relies heavily on self-reported complaints from rival software developers and exhausted hospital administrators, has yet to be replicated by an independent laboratory. Agency officials noted that confounding variables could easily skew the findings, including the possibility that hospital executives simply enjoy paying millions of dollars for an interface that requires thirteen clicks to prescribe a basic aspirin.
While early observations suggest Epic Systems exhibits monopolistic symptoms, we must remember that anticompetitive practices are complex, multifactorial conditions that cannot be diagnosed from a single federal probe.
A review board at the National Institutes of Health has similarly declined to classify Epic's habit of charging exorbitant fees to interface with outside apps as a confirmed pathology. Until a larger sample of completely bankrupted competitors can be thoroughly evaluated, investigators recommend treating the software giant with a conservative regimen of mild subpoenas and watchful waiting.