News 3/18/26

Top News

Healthcare pricing and payment platform vendor Turquoise Health raises a $40 million Series C funding round.

Reader Comments

From ExecPhysicianCalifornia: “Re: wrongful death complaint filed against Epic. The case is Fischman v. Epic Systems Corporation, Case No. 3:26‑cv‑00770‑D, was filed on March 10, 2026.” Thanks for those details, which allowed me to download the filing. Summary:

• The lawsuit was filed by Gallit Fischman, whose father died after his transplant-related drug was switched at UT Southwestern.
• She previously filed a personal injury malpractice lawsuit against UT Southwestern, alleging that the organization prioritized clinical studies over patient needs. She withdrew that suit before filing this one against Epic.
• In her lawsuit against Epic, which she filed without attorney representation, she cites wrongful death, product liability, and related claims. Her complaint says, “Epic-generated medical record did not permit reconstruction of a coherent medication timeline, identification of active versus discontinued medications, or reliable differentiation between current and historical clinical information.”
• The lawsuit claims that medications can continue to display in Epic after being discontinued and that medication reconciliation does not require specific clinician action, allowing outdated entries to persist. She argues that hospitals cannot change Epic’s architecture.
• She repeatedly argues that the fault lies with Epic, not with the clinician or hospital, and that her claims do not require reviewing physician treatment decisions or standards of care as would be required in a malpractice case.
• Her claims appear to rely largely on her own review of the Epic-generated medical record, in which she says that she could not reconstruct the medication timeline.
• A possible motivation is that she may have concluded from the UT Southwestern lawsuit that malpractice claims are difficult to pursue, since they require expert testimony and proof of a clinical mistake. Texas is generally considered a clinician-friendly state for malpractice litigation.
• Her case against Epic instead hinges on Texas product liability law, which courts do not always apply consistently to software. The question is whether an EHR is considered a product or a service. The claim is easier to assert than malpractice and could also give her access to UT Southwestern records without meeting malpractice lawsuit requirements, which would be useful if her malpractice lawsuit is revived.
• The plaintiff’s chances of winning, or even surviving Epic’s likely motion to dismiss, appear low. Epic will likely argue that it has no duty to the patient, that an EHR is not a product under Texas law, that hospitals control configuration choices, that clinicians still exercise independent judgment, and that any claim of causation is speculative.
• Epic will likely move to dismiss, which may clarify whether courts view EHR software as a regulated product or simply a tool used by clinicians.

From Dr. Nick: “Re: ‘Scrubs.’ The relaunch covers the pit stop analogy, where we are forced into RVUs and timed interactions that demand speed over safety or compassion, amongst other things.” Trivia: the original was filmed in North Hollywood Medical Center, which was closed in 1998, torn down in 2011, and replaced with apartments. Patients kept showing up in the lobby because they saw prop ambulances parked outside.

Sponsored Events and Resources

None scheduled soon. Contact Lorre to have your resource listed.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Sutter Health will acquire Allina Health, with the California-only system pledging to invest $2 billion in Allina and allowing it to continue using the Allina Health name. The combined organization will have $26 billion in revenue, 39 hospitals, 88,000 employees, and 400 care sites. I believe they both use Epic.

Sales

• West Cancer Center & Research Institute selects the Unified Digital Patient Experience Platform from Willowglade Technologies.
• Summit Health will deploy Navina’s AI-powered system for value-based care.

Announcements and Implementations

Google removes the “What People Suggest” feature from its search, which provided AI-generated summaries of crowdsourced medical advice.

Google says that it will invest $10 million to fund organizations that incorporate AI in clinician education. The company also will add an “Ask” button to health videos on YouTube so that users can request AI explanations, add a connection to continuous glucose monitors in Health Connect, and link to medical records in the Fitbit app.

Philips announces a cloud-enabled version of its IntelliSite Pathology Solution on HealthSuite.

Southeast Georgia Health System will implement digital billing software from RevSpring later this month.

West Virginia University Medicine expands its pilot of Abridge’s AI-based clinical documentation software to 1,200 clinicians.

In Colorado, Heart of the Rockies Regional Medical Center will implement Epic through a Community Connect arrangement with Aspen Valley Health.

Censinet announces GA of GRC AI, an automated governance, risk, and compliance platform; and additional enhancements to its healthcare cybersecurity risk-management solutions.

Azara Healthcare will integrate its population health and value-based care solutions with Meditech Expanse.

Privacy and Security

Vanderbilt University Medical Center (TN) attributes its brief EHR downtime early Monday morning to an Epic-related outage. Epic noted that it was “aware of one healthcare organization experiencing technical issues.”

Other

Perelman School of Medicine researchers determine that telemedicine visits at Penn Medicine are less expensive than in-person visits after analyzing EHR and billing data from 160,000 visits conducted over four months. They found that initial virtual visits were charged $96 versus $509 for the in-person visit. Telemedicine patients had one fewer follow-up visits within 30 days of their first appointment than did in-person patients.

Sponsor Updates

• AdvancedMD wins Software Finder’s Excellence Award for its data-driven medical office software performance.
• Black Book Research releases a new report titled “United Kingdom: State of Acute Care EHR and Digital Healthcare 2026.”
• Arcadia offers a “PY27 ACO Roster Building Checklist.”
• Bizmatics will exhibit at ASIPP 2026 March 19-21 in New Orleans.
• Divurgent congratulates customer Riverview Health (IN) on its recent Epic go-live.

Blog Posts

• Assessing and Transforming Utilization Review Documentation Culture (AGS Health)
• How Lung Nodule Tracking Software Supports Nurse Navigators (Qure.ai)
• HIMSS26 hot takes: AI, Data, and the Next Decade of Healthcare (Arcadia)
• Inside the CIO Playbook: Strategies Fueling Health IT Growth (CereCore)
• The hidden complexity of MLM management (Altera Digital Health)
• How UHS Partnered with Artera to Close Gaps in Diabetes Care (Artera)
• Reflections with CEO Tom Niehaus: Celebrating CTG’s 60th Year in Business (CTG)

Contacts

Mr. H, Lorre, Jenn, Dr. Jayne.
Get HIStalk updates.
Send news or rumors.
Follow on X, Bluesky, and LinkedIn.
Sponsorship information.
Contact us.