News 2/27/26

Top News

Health Gorilla files a motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought by Epic and several health systems, which alleges that it enabled third parties to improperly access patient data by misrepresenting their purpose for obtaining records.

Health Gorilla argues that both Carequality and TEFCA require mandatory dispute resolution before litigation, that the interoperability frameworks assign enforcement authority to Carequality and the TEFCA RCE rather than private litigants, and that the complaint alleges at most that Health Gorilla should have been more suspicious rather than that it acted with actual knowledge of willful misconduct.

An Epic spokesperson says that Health Gorilla remains responsible for safeguarding patient data and understanding how it is used, and adds that the matter should be resolved in federal court for transparency.

Meanwhile, LlamaLab, which was also named in the lawsuit, files its own motion to dismiss the document, arguing that Epic bypassed its own contractual dispute obligations and wrongly included the company in the case among several unrelated defendants. LlamaLab, which sells medical records to negligence law firms for $50 per request, says that Epic is protecting its dominance and targeting companies that make it easier for patients to retrieve their own medical records.

Reader Comments

From Beagle Eagle: “Re: Epic v. Health Gorilla. If interoperability only works when one dominant EHR vendor plays traffic cop, then it was never really interoperability. Either the governance frameworks function as designed, or we admit that the network-of-networks model is mostly branding. Watching vendors argue in federal court about who gets to define ‘treatment purpose’ feels like a preview of how TEFCA disputes will play out when real money and market share are at stake.”

From Thalamus: “Re: UMMC downtime. Every health system says downtime procedures are solid, yet hospitals or clinics still go dark for days when ransomware hits. If core ambulatory operations can’t function without network access, then business continuity planning is still theoretical.”

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

ViVE down, HIMSS to go. My guide to HIMSS26 will be updated ongoing (see Dr. Jayne’s unsolicited testimonial). HIStalk sponsors can provide their participation information to be included. Companies that aren’t sponsors can still get in on the action by contacting Lorre to sign up.

Sponsored Events and Resources

Publication: HIStalk’s Guide to HIMSS26 lists the activities of sponsors at the conference.

Contact Lorre to have your resource listed.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

The chief legal officer of personal health record company ChartSquad warns that law firms and other organizations, including their intermediaries, cannot misrepresent themselves as treating providers to obtain medical records from exchanges. She adds that attorneys should not pay third-party companies to retrieve records, then bill the patient for that service, when established legal pathways allow them to obtain records directly from patients or providers with proper authorization.

Sales

• Wayne General Hospital (MS) will deploy Eko Health’s Sensora AI cardiac detection platform and digital stethoscopes in its emergency and primary care departments.

People

Teresa Tonthat, MBA (Texas Children’s Hospital) joins Cook Children’s Health Care System as SVP/CDIO.

Announcements and Implementations

Mend launches Nutrition for Healing, a free educational resource that addresses evidence-based nutrition as a cornerstone of healing and recovery. Mend’s CEO is industry veteran Paul Roscoe.

A NEJM editorial says that the human-in-the-loop principle should be treated as a design specification that includes three parts: the clinical loop at the point of care, the governance loop, and the learning loop that oversees ongoing monitoring and model updates.

Oracle Health launches a paid program that will validate medical device connectivity, functionality, and workflow alignment.

Government and Politics

CMS develops a Medicare App Library on Medicare.gov that beneficiaries can use to find and access digital tools that meet standards for security, privacy, use of medical evidence, usability, and equity. The use cases include “Kill the Clipboard,” conversational AI assistance, and prevention of diabetes and obesity. The library is part of the CMS Digital Health Tech Ecosystem.

A federal jury convicts Texas medical laboratory owner and former professional football player Keith Gray of running a genetic testing fraud scheme that billed Medicare $328 million, of which $54 million was paid. His labs paid kickbacks to marketers to supply DNA samples and Medicare beneficiary information that was used to bill for medically unnecessary genetic tests. Gray earned a bachelor’s degree in actuarial science and mathematics from UConn and played center on its football team, although his NFL career consisted of only a few weeks on a practice squad.

Privacy and Security

Cognizant-owned TriZetto updates the size of its 2024 breach to 3.5 million people.

University of Mississippi Medical Center clinics remain offline from a confirmed ransomware attack on February 19. Officials say that the attackers have communicated them, but declined to divulge the amount of ransom requested. UMMC hopes to reopen the clinics on Monday. 

Other

Epic CEO Judy Faulkner posts a tribute to Meditech’s Neil Pappalardo, who died last month:

Neil Pappalardo, who founded MEDITECH in 1969, passed away in January at the age of 83. He created a great company.

Neil helped Epic get a start. He and others at MEDITECH shared advice with me; for example, how to assign offices, what to do about titles, forms to fill out such as for vacation — and everything they shared was very helpful. They care for their customers, they focus on technology, and they never went public, so they avoid the tyranny of the quarter. Epic holds MEDITECH in high regard.

Years ago, when they were helping us get started, Neil invited me to his home for dinner. I realized it was unusual when his kids asked why a piece of folded cloth was next to each plate. I felt honored to be there.

Dolly Parton never ceases to amaze me and everybody else (after all, she wrote “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You” in the same day), so it’s not shocking that East Tennessee Children’s Hospital renames itself Dolly Parton Children’s Hospital.

Sponsor Updates

• Fortified Health Security names Harold Hansen EOD security analyst and Alex Goldstein third-party risk analyst.
• Inbox Health becomes an UrgentIQ preferred patient payments partner.
• Shannon Health (TX) goes live on Mednition’s Kate AI.
• Optimum Healthcare IT posts a new episode of “Visionary Voices” podcast featuring Trinity Health.

Blog Posts

• HFMA Region 5 SES 2026: Leadership Is the Differentiator (FinThrive)
• 15 Essential Contact Center Metrics and KPIs to Measure in Healthcare (Five9)
• Evaluation of AI in Patient Communications (Impact Advisors)
• How our Digital Front Door strategy is easing administrative burdens and boosting the patient experience (Meditech)
• How Effective Are Your Health System’s IT Cost-Cutting Measures? (Med Tech Solutions)

Contacts

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