In comments to Forbes and Bloomberg, the higher-ups at the EHR software company, Epic Systems (Verona, Wisc.) said they didn’t get an invitation to the join the newly created CommonWell Health Alliance. A source confirmed to Healthcare Informatics that Epic officials are under the perception the alliance of six health IT companies (Cerner, McKesson, Allscripts, Greenway, athenahealth, and RelayHealth*) purposely didn't invite the company, which various reports say is the industry’s largest EHR software company in terms of market share.
Led by McKesson and Cerner, CEOs for the six companies said the alliance was created on the concept of “broad industry interoperability.” The vendors say they intend on creating a “collaborative effort of suppliers who are focused on achieving data liquidity between systems, in compliance with patient authorizations.”
Judy Faulkner, CEO of Epic, told Bloomberg that the alliance is less about interoperability and more about competition. “It appears on the surface to be used as a competitive weapon and that’s just wrong. It’s wrong for the country,” she said. In an interview with Forbes, Carl Dvorak, chief operating officer of Epic Systems, called it a “marketing opportunity” for vendors. He said Epic wasn’t likely to join the alliance, and they preferred national standards.
*RelayHealth is a subsidiary of McKesson
