# Epic systems
**URL:** https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/epic-systems/16310
**Category:** Politics
**Created:** [August 19, 2026, 3:12pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/epic-systems/16310 "2026-08-19T15:12:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@mohe0001](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/mohe0001)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2026, 3:12pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/epic-systems/16310/1 "2026-08-19T15:12:53Z")
Under preliminary investigation…
> **[Epic’s alleged anticompetitive practices under scrutiny from federal, state...](https://www.statnews.com/2026/08/14/epic-systems-ftc-review-nda-use-possible-anticompetitive-practices/)**
>
> Epic Systems is the subject of a broad inquiry into its business practices, people who were contacted by FTC investigators told STAT.
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### Author:  [@mohe0001](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/mohe0001)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2026, 1:10am UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/epic-systems/16310/2 "2026-08-25T01:10:37Z")
I’m trying to rally the doctors, but I may or may not be having any luck.
Sometimes I’m trying to appeal to their egos - kinda bait people who are accustomed to being in charge. Does that make sense?
Sometimes I try to trick them into helping us.
We know about patient advocacy.
Do you have any advice about how to physcologically provoke the doctors into advocating on their own behalf?
Like, my expectations about a doctors ability to advocate for me, or even themselves, is pretty low. But they are smart. I don’t want to sell anybody short. They can do what we do.
Like, I think my strategy is to do “Doctor advocacy.” I use that phrase even a little antagonistically because they are supposed to advocate for us. But they are really bad at this stuff and so I feel like maybe if I just explain stuff, then they will do something useful for us. But then, a lot of people tell me that they are not capable of advocacting for themselves the way that we advocate for ourselves. I’m not really sure what they mean when they say that. They might mean that doctors don’t have the same instrinsict drives, or that they are recieving financial incentive not to.
**The following is my propoganda campaign on them this week. I would welcome any suggestions.**
### Post #3 this week (My strategy is modeling/explaining)
Lessons for Medical Professionals: How to stand up for your damn selves using antitrust
I tell the government that patients far outperform Epic’s ability to write software. Patients wrote software to make their medical devices interoperable in 2013. In 2025, Epic still lacked the functionaity to make that diabetic data accessible to doctors. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ypkv0HeUvTc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ypkv0HeUvTc)
What is the impact on patients of not being able to access our own medical data?
What are the impacts on care if our doctors cannot access our medical data?
The government is meant to ask, “Is Epic so bad at what they do, that they cannot figure out HOW to make the data available to Doctors? Or, do they simply lack any market incentive to innovate?” 🤔
Epic is a software example of consolidation and lack of competition in the market. They lobby and write laws that prevent competitors from entering the market because it is easier to market fix than to innovate. The burden of innovation in the market falls on diabetic patients.
The FTC is VERY interested in the impact of technology on the markets. Does Epic facilitate care? Does it operate so well for you that no competitors could possibly improve on it?
Policy is a MUCH more competitive industry than healthcare. You need to compete (and collaborate) with patients and pharmacists for representation. You have the ability to do that. But I warn you that the pharmacists are policy assassins. They are fantastic at this game. They are so mad that their lobbyists post videos like this on the internet (as a veiled threat to insurers):
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ypkv0HeUvTc)
Pharmacists have a lot more personal and professional freedom that you do because they are small business owners. They are highly organized with very specific policy goals. They run together like a pack of dangerous dogs.
You all are like a pack of adorable terriers that walked up happily to play and were promptly beaten to death by the powerful interests. That’s bad for everyone. The government might throw you a bone to see if you can play, too. You need to bring your A game.
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### Author:  [@mohe0001](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/mohe0001)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2026, 1:21am UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/epic-systems/16310/3 "2026-08-25T01:21:49Z")
### **Post #2 this week (My strategy here is to post funny music video that THEY made, and to remind them that they have been bitching about this constrantly FOREVER, and to make double sure they say the link about FTC rooting around in antitrust concerns w/ epic, and to reassure them that if they just take some action, it might do good somehow - even if we don’t directly see HOW right this minute. I might be trying to provide them with hope and tell them that self advocacy can be fun)**
Continuously complaining on the interwebs DOES help move policy. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB\_tSFJsjsw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB_tSFJsjsw) Trust me. Sometimes I complain about something for YEARS on the internet. Then someone I don’t know reaches out to me and tells me to show up at the capitol at a specific time. So, I do. There’s a bill there waiting for me. The world is a strange and wonderful place. Keep up the good work, you all. Sometimes patients advocate for doctors - I term this Digital Doctor Advocacy.😝
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### Author:  [@mohe0001](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/mohe0001)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2026, 1:33am UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/epic-systems/16310/4 "2026-08-25T01:33:39Z")
### **Post #1 this week (My strategy is to provide quick resources to understand what “antitrust” means and how people discuss it)**
To the Doctors and Nurses,
The gov might address one of your greatest complaints - Epic.
[https://www.reuters.com/world/us-ftc-probing-health-records-company-epic-systems-2026-08-14/](https://www.reuters.com/world/us-ftc-probing-health-records-company-epic-systems-2026-08-14/)
Everyone will tell you that antitrust is boring, but it’s not. It’s a lever thru which you can change large, powerful systems that restrict your authority and right to practice. In order to hunt, you have to like to hunt. I didn’t like it. I learned how to enjoy hunting. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQyoSLOlglw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQyoSLOlglw)
You need an ability to hunt. Not everyone has that. Employers can erect barriers to you petitioning your government. That’s not a small problem. But you can get away with A LOT before anybody finds out. They might not EVER find out unless you tell them. NEVER talk about policy work unless there’s a very clear reason to do it. I wait until it’s too late to reverse all our work before I talk about it.
I keep telling you that if you all just quit being a bunch of rule following nerds, you can get what you want. I say that the patient community will back you up. But there is more to it than that. We don’t want anymore problems like we had at the ADA conference. So, lets talk.
The reality is that it took the diabetics 5 years to explain to me what a PBM was. You might not have that much time. If there are a handful of you that can represent your community over your EPIC concerns, that’s fine. That will do. People with that individual initiative just come forward naturally because they have that particular personal drive. They exist.
If you might be one of those people, with an overwhelming interest in how software impacts practice, individual liberty, and your professional rights, here’s some resources to get you started on the topic of antitrust:
1.) Google this 3-part podcast on antitrust: [Antitrust In America : Planet Money : NPR](https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/03/20/704426033/antitrust-in-america)
2.) J. Kantor (DOJ, FTC): [Jonathan Kanter & Rethinking Antitrust for the Modern Economy - The Capitol Forum](https://thecapitolforum.com/resource/jonathan-kanter-rethinking-antitrust-for-the-modern-economy/)
3.) Senator Klobuchar (ex-chair of the fed antitrust committee): [Audible | Listen to Audiobooks, Podcasts & Originals](https://www.audible.com/pd/Antitrust-Audiobook/0593459261)
4.) Meador at FTC: [https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc\_gov/pdf/antitrust-policy-for-the-conservative-meador.pdf](https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/antitrust-policy-for-the-conservative-meador.pdf)
5.) Me: [Regulations.gov](https://www.regulations.gov/comment/ATR-2026-0001-0103)
6.) Pharmacists: [Open Commission Meeting - July 20, 2023 | Federal Trade Commission](https://www.ftc.gov/media/open-commission-meeting-july-20-2023)
7.) More pharmacists: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0bcWlI4ht4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0bcWlI4ht4)
8.) Democratic process: [Pepper Culpepper Says Good Populism Can Save Democracy - Democracy Paradox](https://democracyparadox.com/2026/06/24/pepper-culpepper-says-good-populism-can-save-democracy/) and Civic Bargin: [Does Democracy Rely on a Civic Bargain? Josiah Ober Makes the Case - Democracy Paradox](https://democracyparadox.com/2023/12/26/does-democracy-rely-on-a-civic-bargain-josiah-ober-makes-the-case/)
I know you all are busy. I’m trying to provide resources you can listen to on your commute or while walking the dog. Only YOU can represent your interests. I can’t do it for you. I can only assist in bringing you up to speed ASAP.
On partisan concerns…keep to the facts. Keep it bipartisan. This stuff takes a long time. You need both parties to succeed at anything that will have any resilliancy. (That was the mistake at ADA.) Don’t play partisan politics until you are 10-20 years into this and you know what you are doing. Tell your buddies at the U of MN I said this. They are welcome to ask questions about it.
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### Author:  [@mohe0001](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/mohe0001)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2026, 1:39am UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/epic-systems/16310/5 "2026-08-25T01:39:29Z")
I’m used to the community providing feedback.
Anybody have any feedback?
It doesn’t have to be kind feedback.
People say all the time that whatever I’m trying to do is impossible or stupid.
I expect it. My feelings won’t get hurt.
I would like to see a doctor demonstrate some advocacy, even if it’s not on a patients behalf. I’d be fine with seeing them advocate on their own behalf.
How can I provoke them into that? Or, trick them into helping diabetic patients? That is, after all, their job
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### Author:  [@mohe0001](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/mohe0001)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2026, 12:48am UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/epic-systems/16310/6 "2026-08-26T00:48:01Z")
I might be getting kicked off the forum. Just know you can reach out anytime via text. People have that #. Most of Tu isn’t around anymore, but they have direct contact info. I gotta go outta town. The gov is reaching out to our professional lobbyists to try and negotiate what we want as a community. Non-medical switching is on the list, @jbowler. We should have that pretty soon (at a federal level). Medtronic divested Minimed. Thank you for all the work you did on that, @elver It meant a lot. Also, thank you for the help with how to change the law so that diabetics could have drivers licenses in my state. Opened a lot of opportunities for me that did not exist before. I appreciate that.
Its a historic time in medicine. I’ve never seen our concerns so widley addressed. Things are gonna get better. Hang in there.
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDjUwJn2zFY)
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### Author:  [@jbowler](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/jbowler)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2026, 9:53pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/epic-systems/16310/7 "2026-08-26T21:53:42Z")
> [@mohe0001](#):
>
> Anybody have any feedback?
A lot of people on FUD have “politics” disabled. That’s strange to me coming from the UK because politics is how we make changes and how we control the government. I think what many Americans find difficult about it is that a lot of politics isn’t politics at all; it’s religion. Views that are held as irrefutable beliefs and visited upon US politics. Politics and law have to be justified and, as in sciences, therefore have to be potentially refutable; subject to debate.
So my inclination is to stamp anything that talks about anything with a view to changing it, or at least changing it through the system, as “politics”. I try to only whine and point out problems and successful resolutions in my non-political posts.
So far as your original point is concerned I disagree. I certainly do not disagree that there is a problem but I think it is a problem, and a very solvable problem, with the whole US medical record keeping mess.
I know that Epic is in an apparent near monopoly with acute care record keeping but it isn’t dominant in primary care; yes, it is the big guy but it’s not the elephant.
What I think is that Epic’s position in acute care hides the real problem. Hospitals go for Epic because they often have to have records PDQ; by going for the big guy they get instant access to the largest number of patients. For primary care it’s more a matter of cost; primary care docs can take their time over getting patient records and, who knows, maybe they don’t try that hard? I don’t see how doctor shopping would work otherwise.
Take Epic’s monopoly out of the picture and the whole system may well crumble even more; it’s pretty broken as it is. This isn’t Ma Bell, or maybe it is; the US still has one of the most (_the_ most?) expensive telephone systems in the world.
If I were campaigning on this I would be campaigning for patient ownership of patient records (first) and I would argue that we patients should be paying for our own records (second). HIPAA does not seem to work.
When we own the records those who use them pay for access; it’s our property, our copyright. When a commercial entity trains or tests its pump controller on our data it pays us. When a doc or hospital treats us it bills separately for the access to our records and because of health “insurance” that means we make a profit there too.
That’s a suggestion of a solution, a simple one but still a solution, and therefore political. Whacking successful companies on the head because it makes lawyers a lot of money is a religion and that statement isn’t political, it’s just good ol’ whining.
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### Author:  [@mohe0001](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/mohe0001)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2026, 10:25pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/epic-systems/16310/8 "2026-08-26T22:25:59Z")
That’s really helpful perspective, Bowler. Thanks for the feedback and thank you for writing back when no else wants to. I had a meltdown and stayed up all night last night and eventually started to cry because I was so exhausted.
I need to put in some time figuring out how to operate the website. I had some breakthroughs last night and I think I have calmed down now. I need to just MAKE time to click buttons. I haven’t had time and keep putting it off.
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### Author:  [@ClaudnDaye](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/ClaudnDaye)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2026, 10:29pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/epic-systems/16310/9 "2026-08-26T22:29:34Z")
> [@jbowler](#):
>
> A lot of people on FUD have “politics” disabled.
There’s probably a good amount of back story not worth telling, for why this is choice for many, on FUD.
😉
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### Author:  [@mohe0001](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/mohe0001)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2026, 10:31pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/epic-systems/16310/10 "2026-08-26T22:31:13Z")
I follow you.
Boston Scientific has an ongoing cyber attack?
Someone just texted me.
See why there’s no time? It’s madness out there this year. If you look away for even a minute, you miss SO many important events.
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### Author:  [@jbowler](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/jbowler)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2026, 10:42pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/epic-systems/16310/11 "2026-08-26T22:42:44Z")
> [@ClaudnDaye](#):
>
> [W]hy this is [the] choice for many, on FUD.
It’s an individual choice. I think “Type 2” and “Type 1” can be ignored too, can’t they? I certainly wasn’t criticizing either being able to choose or making choices; I support that 110%. I ignored “politics” for a long time; I think it was @mohe0001 on TUD who brought me back in to the fold. I’d like to see more choices rather than less; for example, how about “religion” and “science”?
I do think that a better approach would be to allow those three labels on individual posts too, as additive qualifiers, so that if @mohe0001 or I actually want to post a political solution to a problem posted, quite reasonably, as apolitical we can do so without spamming the people who are being served by the other responses. Of course I don’t think Discourse actually supports that, but then there are lots of things within it that I don’t know about.
I also know that many people get turned off every “Social Media” channel there is because of didacticism and criticism. Some even get turned off, or apparently insulted, by disagreement particularly after advancing a religious (therefore irrefutable) viewpoint. So the anti-social media companies take people to other people who think alike and are all touchy-feely, but there’s no choice. Choice fixes problems, that, of course, is a very divisive political statement.
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### Author:  [@ClaudnDaye](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/ClaudnDaye)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2026, 10:57pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/epic-systems/16310/12 "2026-08-26T22:57:57Z")
In Discord any user can ignore (mute) one of two things.
1. Topic area(s) that they don’t want to see / doesn’t interest them, and
2. Tag(s) they don’t want to see / doesn’t interest them.
Update!! You can also ignore specific people!! Forgot about that one. You won’t see their posts unless you open them up specifically, if you ignore someone.
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### Author:  [@mohe0001](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/mohe0001)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2026, 2:22am UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/epic-systems/16310/13 "2026-08-27T02:22:43Z")
Ok. I can’t sleep until I tell you what Chris said. I don’t know how he figured this out so fast. I could have stared at this screen for another 6 months and not figured this out. I would have just gotten increasingly and increasingly frusterated until I physically melted down.
I gotta sleep tonight, though, or I WILL have a seizure behind the wheel tomorrow. I gotta explain ASAP and go to sleep.
He debugged my brain. I can’t precieve new posts on the forum. Keep in mind that I read every post on TU and I stared at that screen for YEARS.
There used to be a red line at the top of the TU page. It might have been an indicator for archieved posts or something (I don’t recall). Below that red line, new posts were displayed to me in black (?) font. Posts that I had read previously were gray.
When I logged onto the TU page, I’m (roughly) looking for: 1.) Three archieved titles in black or gray font, 2.) Red indicator line, 3.) gray font, and then 4.) any NEW posts in black font.
When I see that pattern, I zero in on #4 and read new posts.
Now, every time I log on to FU, I’m completley disoriented and I can’t even precieve the presence of new post. Every post in new. Every post is in black font, except for mine (which are gray posts that count as read).
I zero in on the “cat” post all the time because I recognize that as something similar to an archieved post. I’m unconsiously trying to reorient myself to a sequential order that doesn’t exist. I can’t even really phsyically see posts.
That’s werid.
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### Author:  [@jbowler](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/jbowler)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2026, 11:37pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/epic-systems/16310/14 "2026-08-28T23:37:05Z")
> [@mohe0001](#):
>
> That’s werid.
It’s human; you have proved you are not an AI. Humans are very very good at understanding things that are difficult to understand, like computer “user interfaces”. So the people who write user interfaces (also, until recently, humans) just write something and go home to stroke the aforementioned cat (white Persian, I assume). Humans adapt, learn and use, perhaps because they lose their jobs if they don’t, yet they do.
When a UI changes humans have to start from scratch; there is no underlying logic to UIs. This is the Google/Apple tie in; users of Google 'phones might think they can understand an Apple 'phone but when they try they keep making “mistakes”.
UI conformity is more important than UI usability. UI usability is no issue for us, learning 1001 different UIs is a big issue.
Small changes kill. I used bg meters that read in SI units from the first time I got one (many years after diagnosis) until 1992 when I moved to the US. In the US I naturally assumed that my target should be something above 50mg/dL. I was always high so it didn’t make much of a difference, although, curiously, it may have saved my life by now.
US power plugs; the things we push into the sockets on the wall to obtain our shock of electricity, have an almost infinite number of shapes. That’s bad UI; no one without extensive training knows what plugs in to where. But you can’t plug a NEMA plug into a dangerously wrong NEMA receptacle. At least not without a pair of pliers and a hammer.
In the UK plugs look like this:
[ ](https://gude-systems.com/app/uploads/2024/05/steckertyp-g-uk-plug-commonwealth-stecker-gude-systems-1.png)
This is the [source page](https://gude-systems.com/en/expert-know-how/plug-type-g-uk-plug/).
That’s it. One plug (in our houses) fits all. It’s not perfect. When I was young and my parents first obtained a television I would watch it with them, for children’s hour, then I would go to bed. My parents, being safety conscious, removed the television plug from the wall socket (the receptacle didn’t have switches in those days). I learned this pretty fast. Once when I was particularly brave and particularly desirous of watching television I wrapped my little fingers round that big plug and pushed it in. Thus giving myself ECT; the early plugs did not have the plastic half way down the live prongs.
That’s a UI too.
You’ve identified a broken UI. The standard response is to reprogram the humans who use it.
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### Author:  [@mohe0001](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/mohe0001)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2026, 12:28am UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/epic-systems/16310/15 "2026-08-31T00:28:21Z")
I just back from days in the north woods where there was very little internet or cell. I gotta catch up on all this.
Incase my internet drops again, I’m gonna info dump.
It’s CPT codes and American Medical Association (AMA) on the governments monopoly power platter. My buddy Robert says so, anyway. Epic might still be on the platter. But, as of now, I think they are hunting AMA. He warned me this was coming. I’m not sure how this fits in with Epic, but it certainly does in some way. I bet Epic threw AMA under the bus when they were trying to get out of trouble with the government. That’s usually how these things work.
But the doctors have been bitching furiously about AMA on the internet for 18 months straight. One of the docs pushed on them so hard that AMA threw the PBMs under the bus. I was really proud of the doc that pulled that off. She’s a genius.
Here’s confirmation.
> **[CMS seeks public feedback on 'AMA's monopoly' over CPT codes](https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/regulatory/american-medical-associations-handling-cpt-codes-enters-congress-crosshairs)**
>
> The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has joined lawmakers who have questioned the role of the American Medical Association's (AMA's) Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) in government hea | The agency joins prominent Republican lawmakers in...
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### Author:  [@mohe0001](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/mohe0001)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2026, 12:46am UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/epic-systems/16310/16 "2026-08-31T00:46:17Z")
> [@jbowler](#):
>
> there is no underlying logic to UIs.
This is actually SUPER interesting to me, especially in light of these new (terrible) experiences. I’m a very visual thinker. I think that’s because of epillepsy. I think there are parts of my brain that either don’t function “normally,” or are damaged from either diabetes or epilepsy. I think I adapt around those disabilities by thinking in a MORE visual way, or in an exclusivley visual way.
Only crazy people let me build UIs. I love it when they do. I love drawing pictures of complex information and processes, because I do that naturally anyway. I got a LOT of software engineers thru their masters degree in this town by drawing colorful pictures of database operations. I love that stuff.
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### Author:  [@mohe0001](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/mohe0001)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2026, 1:00am UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/epic-systems/16310/17 "2026-08-31T01:00:32Z")
> [@ClaudnDaye](#):
>
> a good amount of back story not worth telling
The admins moved the post here. I probably don’t need to explain how far away I was from being able to use “categories” until I understood how to see “posts.” But I’ll be able to do that now easily. 😅
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### Author:  [@Boerenkool](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/Boerenkool)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2026, 9:17am UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/epic-systems/16310/18 "2026-08-31T09:17:40Z")
> [@mohe0001](#):
>
> I tell the government that patients far outperform Epic’s ability to write software. Patients wrote software to make their medical devices interoperable in 2013. In 2025, Epic still lacked the functionaity to make that diabetic data accessible to doctors. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ypkv0HeUvTc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ypkv0HeUvTc)
>
> What is the impact on patients of not being able to access our own medical data?
>
> What are the impacts on care if our doctors cannot access our medical data?
>
> The government is meant to ask, “Is Epic so bad at what they do, that they cannot figure out HOW to make the data available to Doctors? Or, do they simply lack any market incentive to innovate?” 🤔
To what extent is this because patients only have a single issue they are motivated to solve and can do these things “illegally”, while EHR vendors have many specialties and patient groups to cater to and also need to negotiate with medical device manufacturers to do this legally, manufacturers that initially simply refuse “because doctors can use our own perfect viewer”? Abbott to this day has no publicly available official API documentation, contrary to Dexcom.
What was this thing in 2013? Hacked Medtronic devices? Have patients been able to hack any new Medtronic device ever since? Look at the staunch anti-interoperability route Medtronic has taken, with the Abbott Instinct sensor as their latest feat.
Sure, it’s nice for our doctors to have our data available within their respective EHRs, but my priority is getting truly interoperable devices. It’s infuriating that my pump only integrates with Medtronic’s wildly overpriced sensors that aren’t covered by my (non-US) health insurance.
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### Author:  [@mohe0001](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/mohe0001)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2026, 9:41pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/epic-systems/16310/19 "2026-08-31T21:41:16Z")
> [@Boerenkool](#):
>
> To what extent is this because patients only have a single issue they are motivated to solve and can do these things “illegally”, while EHR vendors have many specialties and patient groups to cater to and also need to negotiate with medical device manufacturers to do this legally,
Excellent question.
> [@Boerenkool](#):
>
> What was this thing in 2013? Hacked Medtronic devices?
Yes…and, building predictive, interoperable software between multiple devices.
> [@Boerenkool](#):
>
> Look at the staunch anti-interoperability route Medtronic has taken, with the Abbott Instinct sensor as their latest feat.
You know what is weird about this? I think Abbott took over all the manufacturing for medtronic’s devices (at least for the sensors). They are collaborating, not competing. That gets really confusing for our government regulators and they asked for public feedback about what types of collaborations between competitors should be legal in a free market. What constitutes healthy collaboration that benefits consumers, and what is “market fixing?”
Medtronic just divested. They split off the diabetics tech portion of their business back into Minimed (the way it used to be). I believe they did that so that regulators would “get off their back,” a little. They don’t want the kind of antitrust problems that the large insurance companies and insulin manufacturers currently have with regulators. [https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/09/ftc-sues-prescription-drug-middlemen-artificially-inflating-insulin-drug-prices](https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/09/ftc-sues-prescription-drug-middlemen-artificially-inflating-insulin-drug-prices) Medtronic is backing down.
I chase Medtronic pretty hard because @elver made that fun, once upon a time. Tu and American Diabetes Association were not in love with Medtronic’s behavior in the market. I speak badly about them to regulators, and everyone in town, because you all kinda put me up to it. I like it. It’s fun.
But, I’m considering the divestiture a truce, unless you all get me going again. Medtronic is a heavy presence in my town, so it’s easy for me to stir up trouble for them. I enjoy it. 😅 It’s hard for me to know exactly when to stop. I was writing back and forth with the guy who does this podcast. I was trying to figure out if we have reached a “civic bargin” with Medtronic, where I am not at war with them anymore. [Does Democracy Rely on a Civic Bargain? Josiah Ober Makes the Case - Democracy Paradox](https://democracyparadox.com/2023/12/26/does-democracy-rely-on-a-civic-bargain-josiah-ober-makes-the-case/) I still hate them. But maybe the divestiture is a peace treaty. I don’t know. Are we at peace? Is it a restless peace, for the time being, until some argument errupts again between us and the medical device manufacturers?
The U.S. government was hunting tech companies for monopoly power. They were also hunting healthcare companies for monopoly. Diabetics fall square in the middle of that fight and are able to write a lot to the government about our experiences as citizens. Hopefully that helps, somehow. It seems to be helping because sthe government ruled in our favor, over the interests of the insulin manufacturers and the large insurance companies. But the government is still hunting. They are not done. They are trying to help us.
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### Author:  [@Boerenkool](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/Boerenkool)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2026, 5:58am UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/epic-systems/16310/20 "2026-09-01T05:58:24Z")
> [@mohe0001](#):
>
> You know what is weird about this? I think Abbott took over all the manufacturing for medtronic’s devices (at least for the sensors). They are collaborating, not competing.
They are collaborating, but not in a good way. This is just another example of the ensh!ttification of diabetes tech. Minimed has recognized they are way behind competitors with their own Guardian and Simplera sensors, but unlike Tandem, Omnipod or Ypsopump who integrate with one of Abbott’s existing Libre sensors, they have convinced Abbott to manufacture the Instinct sensor, a version of their Libre 3 that exclusively works with Minimed pumps and can be sold at double the price.
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