Epic Systems is forcing hospital customers to use a new government network to share medical records

Epic Systems, the healthcare software giant whose technology is used in thousands of hospitals and clinics across the country, said on Friday that it plans to transition all of its customers to a new state-sponsored medical records exchange by the end of of next year. .

Epic is one of the groups that has been helping the federal government create the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement, or TEFCA, to provide a legal and technical framework for securely sharing patient information.

TEFCA began in December, and Epic says the company’s goal is now to have “the entire Epic community” live online by the end of 2025. All customers should be willing to switch a year before there, Epic said.

Sending medical records between different hospitals, clinics and health care organizations is notoriously difficult. Information is stored in different ways across many different vendors, making it difficult for doctors and other providers to access all the information related to their patients. Epic houses records for more than 280 million people in the US, although patients often have records at multiple vendors.

There are also significant barriers to access to important information due to privacy concerns regarding patient data. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, is a state law that requires a patient’s consent or knowledge for third-party access.

Several companies and organizations have formed to try and facilitate the exchange of health information, but TEFCA was designed to help bring all the different players together. Given Epic’s incredible reach and its 45-year history in the market, the company’s commitment to TEFCA is likely to strengthen the trust of the exchange.

In addition to Epic’s announcement, a collaborative network called Carequality also said on Friday that it is working to coordinate with TEFCA. Maintenance includes Epic as a member.

To join Carequality, organizations are evaluated and must agree to follow clear “permissible reasons” for the exchange of patient records. For example, the permitted purpose of “treatment” means that the physician or hospital requesting the information provides care to the patient in question.

Carequality found itself embroiled in controversy earlier this year after Epic said some network participants were requesting reports for reasons that did not fall under the treatment plan. Carequality said Friday that it is updating its policy to align with TEFCA’s treatment definition, which could help prevent such disputes in the future.

“The Authority supports and promotes all fair and secure exchanges of health information, and to that end has contributed to the development of TEFCA, and actively supports TEFCA participants or those who wants to move to TEFCA,” Carequality said in a blog post on Friday.

Epic said it applauds Carequality’s decision to comply with TEFCA and use the same definition of treatment. The company will continue to help customers manage exchanges through Carequality as they transition to TEFCA, the statement said.

Epic said Carequality currently connects more than 70% of hospitals, as well as more than 50,000 clinics and more than 600,000 care providers.

“TEFCA is the nation’s best chance to decentralize 30% of US hospitals and strengthen trust between data exchange networks and care organizations,” Epic said.

WATCH: FDA pushes to lower sodium in food