medical records
Epic found a problem. What's the solution?
As we told you last week, Epic won what appeared to be a confession from GuardDog Telehealth, one of several companies the health records giant is suing. In a filing, GuardDog seemed to admit that it was indeed posing as a health care provider and requesting patient records for "treatment" purposes, when in reality it was passing the records to law firms. Epic has identified this as a widespread and serious issue that could undermine health records sharing at a very fundamental level. What can the health interoperability community do in response?
In a new story Brittany Trang catches us up on the Epic v. Health Gorilla saga, and what it means for health data sharing at large. Don't miss Health Gorilla CEO Bob Watson actually agreeing with Epic, ASTP's response to all of this, and others weighing in on how the industry's biggest "gorilla in the room" is throwing its weight around. The story features a valiant effort to untangle GuardDog's seemingly contradictory statements.
Read more here
Artificial Intelligence
Doctronic raises $40 million, talks to FDA
Doctronic raised $40 million in fresh funding led by investors Abstract and Lightspeed Venture Partners, I reported. The company operates a telehealth clinic that uses a generative AI chatbot to triage patients before a human clinician offers diagnosis and treatment.
Doctronic made headlines earlier this year for its first-in-the-nation experiment in Utah that will use a version of its chatbot to renew drug prescriptions without clinician review. While the bot was heralded for cleverly pushing the boundaries of what is possible, medical and security experts have since raised concerns around safety and clinical care. A number of experts told me an autonomous prescription renewal bot most likely meets the definition of a medical device regulated by FDA, though the company disagrees.
Co-founders Matt Pavelle and Adam Oskowitz offered a few notable updates: The Utah pilot is still in the first phase where all prescriptions are reviewed by a clinician, and the company is preparing for an introductory meeting with FDA. They also told me about the company's plans to announce a series of partnerships with digital health companies, health systems, and payers that want to use its technology.
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policy Tech takeaways from my interview with Chris Klomp
Greg Riccardi for STAT
At STAT's Breakthrough Summit East last week, I interviewed Medicare director and HHS chief counselor Chris Klomp. I got to know a lot about his background as a health tech entrepreneur while working on a profile when he joined the administration a year ago, and it was very interesting to hear his perspective on a range of topics. Klomp has an uncanny ability to transition in single answers from deep analysis of markets and policy to sweeping theories of morality.
Some takeaways from our coverage:
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Klomp said that TrumpRx wasn't intended as a huge marketplace for drugs but as a way to shed light on the cash prices that are available.
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He said most favored nation agreement would support innovation by forcing countries abroad to pay higher prices on new drugs coming to market.
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He told me he was highly involved in the search for a new CDC director and gave a deep look at the selection process.
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He revealed that the administration is considering ways to enroll people in Medicare Advantage or ACOs by default as a way of accomplishing CMS' stated goal of getting everybody on Medicare into an accountable relationship.
He also went out of his way to address health data interoperability:
I'm focused on technology. It's 2026, I'm sick of the fact that we don't have access to interoperable health care records. This is the single most deflationary thing that we can do in the United States and for health care reform right now. Liberate patient records. Let us be very clear in case there's any ambiguity on CMS' official position on this, or the department's for that matter: The record belongs to the patient. It goes wherever the patient wants or needs it to go. Every single other stakeholder in that equation is a steward, nothing more, nothing less. We're serious about this. We will enforce data blocking provisions that were already established.
This is very interesting in light of the Epic story above. Through threats of enforcement and voluntary Health Technology Ecosystem pledges, Trump's health department has made a big effort to streamline access to patient data. As the most prominent player in health records, Epic is the biggest potential target of any enforcement actions. At the same time, Epic is engaged in a legal campaign suggesting we should be afraid of easy data sharing. How will this collide with Klomp's warning to anyone who stands in the way of liberating patient records? I've got my popcorn ready...
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