SAN FRANCISCO, CA (WKOW) — The Minnesota-based health care company CureIS is suing Verona-based Epic Systems in federal court, accusing the health technology giant of interfering with its business, trade libel, misusing trade secrets, false advertising and unfair competition.
The lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday in the Northern District of California, claims there is “a widespread scheme by Epic to improperly interfere with CureIS’s business,” as well as that of other health care software companies’ business.
One of CureIS’s allegations is that Epic imposes an “Epic-first” policy for many of its electronic health record (EHR) and revenue cycle management (RCM) customers. According to the suit, that policy requires an Epic customer to use Epic’s version of software instead of a competitor’s if the customer wants to start using new health care software.
“Epic exacerbates this problem for competitors like CureIS because Epic also has a practice of misrepresenting to customers that it either has plans to roll out a version of a competitor’s product soon, or that Epic has a current product that replicates the functionality of a competitor’s product, even though Epic’s products are typically of much lower quality,” the lawsuit claims. “Both of these tactics prevent Epic’s EHR and RCM customers from utilizing third parties’ products, regardless of their preference.”
CureIS is also accusing Epic of pressuring customers who were using both Epic and CureIS software to stop using CureIS. The company claims this was the reason a 10-year customer ended its relationship with CureIS in 2023.
In the filing, the company reports a similar situation happened with a different customer, too. According to CureIS, that customer switched to using Epic’s product but wasn’t happy with the results and wanted to bring back CureIS’s system.
“After [redacted] and CureIS devoted many months of planning and significant resources to implementation planning, in August 2024, [redacted] informed CureIS that [redacted] could no longer use any of CureIS’s solutions, including EnrollmentCURE, because Epic considered CureIS a direct competitor and would not allow [redacted] to use the product of its choice,” the lawsuit alleges. “In August 2024, Epic blocked further discussions—with [redacted] having no choice but to comply, or else to undergo an extremely costly and impractical switch of its underlying platform.”
CureIS also accuses Epic of making unfounded claims about the security of CureIS’s software, prompting some potential customers to not use its product.
The company says it has lost the business of at least seven customers and stands to lose more in the future. CureIS called Epic’s actions a “multi-pronged scheme to destroy” the company’s business, saying they have led to a significant decline in revenue and stunted growth.
In a statement, an Epic spokesperson said the Wisconsin company is aware of the lawsuit.
“Epic believes in free and fair competition, and we also believe our customers are in the best position to choose the right solutions to meet their needs—whether with Epic or by adopting other products and services,” the statement reads. “We look forward to setting the record straight in court.”