Epic Retains Lobbyist To Bolster Interoperability Image
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
Epic’s “Closed Systems” Garner Criticism
Epic Systems' decision to retain a Washington lobbyist, reported here by Modern Healthcare, was widely interpreted as an indicator that the leading electronic health-record system vendor is feeling political pressure from the perceived lack of interoperability between its EHR systems and other systems.
At a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing in July, Epic was singled out for criticism by U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA), a physician, who cited a RAND Corp. report asserting that Epic's systems were “closed records.”
Modern Healthcare writes Gingrey argued the federal program providing incentive payments for healthcare providers to install EHRs was intended to promote interoperability. “Is the government getting its money's worth?” he asked. “It may be time for the committee to take a closer look at the practices of vendor companies in this space, given the possibility that fraud may be perpetrated on the American taxpayer.”
"There's been a lot of misinformation out there," said A. Bradford Card, the lobbying firm's principal, to Politico. "I've had a number of productive meetings with Congress to educate members and staff so they know who Epic is and the great story they have to tell. They are the most interoperable EHR company."
In testimony before ONC's Health IT Policy Committee on Aug. 15, Epic President Carl Dvorak argued that the company is far more engaged with data sharing than some critics would contend. One of the biggest knocks against Epic is that its proprietary software does not play well with others.
"While Epic preaches interoperability, it practices non-interoperability and vendor lock," Edmund Billings, MD, chief executive officer of rival Medsphere Systems, developer of the OpenVista EHR, wrote for Healthcare IT News.
Epic's interoperability image also proves critical at this time, as the company just announced in June it was teaming up with tech giant IBM to compete for the DoD Healthcare Management Systems Modernization Contract, a system that heavily relies on full integration capabilities. Epic will go against other EHR heavyweights Allscripts and Cerner in competing for the bid.
Epic's new lobbyist, Brad Card, CEO of Card & Associates, confirmed that Epic officials and some of its competitors held meetings in August with staffers from the Senate Finance Committee and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to discuss the possible shape of the third stage of meaningful-use rules for EHR systems, particularly the interoperability requirements.
An Epic spokesman said the meetings were “productive and informative.” But there was some suggestion that Senate staffers did not respond favorably to Epic officials' arguments about its record on interoperability.
Epic officials blame misinformation being spread by rival EHR companies for the negative impressions.
Carl Dvorak, Epic's chief operating officer, wrote in testimony for an Aug. 13 conference call hosted by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT that the “presumption of abuse” is “based on a false and disingenuous narrative of unidentified origin.”
Some experts say it's hard to objectively compare the interoperability of Epic EHR systems with those of other vendors. But Epic's spokesman said that in August alone, the firm's customers exchanged more than 500,000 records outside of Epic, and five million records between one Epic system and another.