Healthcare Innovation recently tapped Partner Mel Soliz for insight on the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's new antitrust investigation of Epic Systems and the broader questions now surfacing around market concentration and data access in the health technology space.  Mel discussed the factors that can generally trigger an investigation and what this could mean for today’s providers, EHR vendors, and health tech companies. Notably, she emphasized that while information blocking rules and antitrust laws operate under distinct legal standards, they can scrutinize the same conduct when restrictions on health data exchange also disadvantage competitors. Mel’s practice focuses on health data interoperability, privacy, complex data-sharing arrangements, health information networks and exchanges, technology contracting, and related regulatory and litigation risk.  Read the full interview....

Partner Mel Soliz recently spoke with Healthcare Innovation about the legal and privacy issues raised by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s request for expanded access to identifiable emergency department patient records.  In the interview, “CPSC’s Push for Patient Data Raises Privacy and Legal Questions,” Mel discussed the different pathways available under HIPAA and state law for sharing information with public health authorities. She emphasized that health care organizations should carefully evaluate the legal authority supporting a request, whether the information sought is the minimum necessary, and whether more restrictive state privacy laws or technical limitations affect the organization’s ability to disclose the data.  Mel’s practice focuses on health data interoperability, privacy, complex data-sharing arrangements, health information networks and exchanges, technology contracting, and related regulatory and litigation risk.  Read the full interview....