News 12/12/25

Top News

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton files an antitrust and consumer protection petition alleging that Epic maintains monopoly power. It says that Epic controls more than 90% of US patient records, locks in hospitals through extreme switching costs, restricts competitor access to data, and imposes no-hire restrictions on employees. The petition also argues that Epic delays or limits access to medical records for providers and patients who are outside Epic’s system. 

The lawsuit further accuses Epic of misleading Texas children’s hospitals about its parental access rules, which is likely the key issue of the lawsuit.

The lawsuit seeks injunctive relief to restore competitive conditions, civil fines, and court costs.

An Epic spokesperson provided this company response:

The action taken by Texas is flawed and misguided by its failure to understand both Epic’s business model and position in the market and the enormous contributions our company has made to our nation’s healthcare system illustrated by products like MyChart —software that tens of millions of Americans depend on every day. Every month, we improve quality of care by helping providers see a more comprehensive picture of their patient through over 725 million record exchanges—more than any other electronic health records vendor—and over half of these are with non-Epic systems. Health systems using Epic shared information with almost 1,000 patient-facing apps 2 billion times in the past year. Epic does not determine parental access to children’s medical records. Decisions about parental access to children’s medical records are made by doctors and health systems, not by Epic.

Reader Comments

From Dr. Herzenstube: “Re: HELP committee’s inquiry into the American Medical Association. It sounds as if there are some very specific alleged practices around CPT codes that they are investigating.” Sen. Bill Cassidy, MD (R-LA) seeks information from organizations that have licensed CPT about their price structure, AMA’s willingness to negotiate contract provisions, and any other areas outside CPT in which AMA collects royalties.

Sponsored Events and Resources

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Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Oracle announces Q2 results: revenue up 14%, EPS $2.10 versus $1.10, exceeding earnings expectations but falling short on revenue. ORCL shares fell 11% on Thursday over investor concern about rising AI infrastructure costs. Co-CEO Mike Sicilia said in the earnings call that 274 customers are live on Oracle Health’s clinical AI agent and that its new AI-based ambulatory EHR is generally available.

Nashville-based virtual clinic Joi + Blokes acquires women’s-health startup HerMD, creating one of the largest virtual care platforms for menopause, sexual health, and hormone therapy. HerMD previously raised $40 million in venture capital, then closed its five physical locations to focus on virtual care.

Sales

• Val Verde Regional Medical Center will implement Commure Ambient AI.
• Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust selects UpToDate Enterprise Edition from Wolters Kluwer Health.

People

Healthmonix hires Bill Marella, MS, MBA (HealthShare Exchange) as COO.

Announcements and Implementations

OpenAI’s “State of Enterprise AI” report names healthcare as one of the fastest-growing business sectors for ChatGPT use, with eightfold growth in  customers in the past 12 months.

Included Health expands its care navigation platform with an intelligent AI assistant that uses personalized medical, claims, and benefits data to guide employer-based members. It also nudges them toward preventive screenings and better benefits use.

A Microsoft review of 37 million Copilot conversations finds that it is most often used to answer health questions.

A new KLAS report on IT planning and assessment services finds that Chartis, Impact Advisors, Healthlink Advisors, Nordic, Deloitte, and Optimum Healthcare IT are the firms that are most frequently considered and selected.

Government and Politics

More than 100 provider groups and medical societies ask HHS to withdraw its proposed cybersecurity rule that would expand HIPAA requirements, and instead collaborate with industry to develop practical, actionable, and less-burdensome cybersecurity standards.The 393-page Notice of Proposed Rulemaking would require providers, business associates, health plans, and clearinghouses to implement specific safeguards, perform annual compliance audits, document deeper analysis of technology assets, and maintain written documentation. Mandatory technical controls include encryption of EPHI at rest, multi-factor authentication, vulnerability scanning, and network segmentation.

Other

Nordic Chief Medical Officer Craig Joseph, MD says healthcare is betting on the wrong AI horse in embracing purely digital chatbots, which have been found to be less effective in improving outcomes than packaging the same LLM as an inexpensive socially-assistive robot. He says that digital health apps aren’t good at improving behavior change and engagement because they can’t provide the emotional experience and physical presence that engages the brain. Excerpts:

Behavior change is not a content-delivery problem; it is an emotional-experience problem. People don’t struggle with anxiety or diabetes or rehab exercises because they are missing the right paragraph of text. They struggle because doing hard things alone is deeply, intrinsically difficult … humans need accountability, presence, encouragement, and social cues to persist when something feels uncomfortable. Motivation is not downloaded; it’s co-created … The truth is that healthcare already understands the importance of presence. Physicians know that the 30 seconds spent sitting instead of standing changes the perceived quality of a visit. Nurses know that touch conveys trust in ways chart messages never will. Behavioral health clinicians know that therapy is not powerful because of what is said, but because of who is saying it, how they are saying it, and where the interaction occurs. Embodied AI doesn’t replace this relational wisdom. It simply extends it into new settings where humans cannot always be.

Eli Lilly says that a clinical trial of its next-generation, three-hormone GLP-1 drug for obesity and diabetes shows that participants with obesity and arthritis lost an average of 29% of their body weight, about 71 pounds, which exceeds the results reported for Zepbound and Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy. Participants also saw major improvements in their arthritis symptoms. Demand for Lilly’s GLP-1 drugs has driven the company’s valuation to $1 trillion.

The founder of online mental health platform BetterLyf is arrested after he allegedly started a fire at a California winery, threw a wine bottle at employees, intentionally crashed his Tesla into two cars while fleeing, and then locked himself in his car and refused to surrender until police officers pepper sprayed him. Vikram Beri was charged with assault with a deadly weapon and resisting arrest.

Sponsor Updates

• CereCore offers a new e-book titled “The Buyer’s Guide to IT Managed Services: Your Guide to Smarter Healthcare IT Decisions.”
• Findhelp and AIDA Healthcare announce an integration partnership to transform post-acute care referrals.
• Optimum Healthcare IT publishes a white paper titled “Strategic Transformation in the AI Era: Turning Innovation into Impact.”
• Goshen Health (IN) goes live on Meditech’s redesigned Expanse Pathology software.
• Inbox Health partners with Encoda to help physician practices capture revenue.
• Epic adds WellSky CarePort Community Referral Network solution to its Toolbox in the Community Resource Network category.
• Judi Health releases a new episode of its “The Astonishing Healthcare Podcast” titled “Health Benefits that Work for Everyone: Aligning Incentives & Focusing on Members’ Needs, and with Susana Villegas Spillman.”
• RxLogic’s new Formulary & Benefit Connect capability uses eligibility and formulary technology from Surescripts.
• The American Board of Medical Specialties Portfolio Program will use Wolters Kluwer Health’s Ovid Synthesis to streamline the continuing certification credit process and fast-track patient improvement initiatives.
• WellSky’s CarePort Community Referral Network solution is now part of the Epic Toolbox category for Community Resource Network.

Blog Posts

• How Predictive Analytics and Reporting Increase Healthcare Revenue (AGS Health)
• Connected for Better Care: How Strategic Partnerships are Transforming Lab Connectivity (Ellkay)
• Why Drug Knowledge Delivery Must Evolve (First Databank)
• Empowering Value-Based Care in Outpatient Rehab Therapy (Netsmart)
• The CMS TEAM Mandate: What Hospital Leaders Must Know to Be Ready for the 2026 Performance Year (ReferWell)
• Clinically meaningful evidence in the age of AI (Wolters Kluwer Health)
• Consistency in Action: What Industry Recognition Means for Healthcare Progress (FinThrive)
• Five9 Celebrates CRN 2025 Products of the Year Awards (Five9)
• CISO Brief: A Look Back at Healthcare Cybersecurity in 2025, A Year Defined by Disruption (Fortified Health Security)
• Key Regulatory Updates and Compliance Deadlines for 2026 (Med Tech Solutions)

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