[primitivesuave]

I wouldn't call CareQuality a "data broker" as much as it is an interoperability framework. It's essentially a big distributed system of participants who agree to instantly share patient records - CareQuality maintains a central list of participants and the URLs where they can be reached. Since the technical requirements to actually participate in this network are fairly complex (far more than a hospital IT can or should manage), there are companies like Health Gorilla which serve as QHINs (Qualified Health Information Networks) which query the network on behalf of their customers (i.e. doctors engaging in some form of care).

There are many gray areas to this - for example, a value-based care program or ACO can pull records en masse, for the purpose of "care coordination" (i.e. checking if a particular patient requires intervention). However, what Health Gorilla has done is certainly no gray area as some articles on this matter suggest - if the allegations are true, then they have engaged in outright criminal behavior along with their co-conspirators (RavillaMed, LlamaLab, and others). Thankfully, this situation has completely eroded all trust in Health Gorilla and prompted a massive customer exodus.

[jkingsman]

That's wild; thanks for the clarification.

Crazily, I only stumbled upon this because I ordered some discount blood labs and the requisition had Health Gorilla on the letterhead, which I found an absurd company name, so I googled them, and found the lawsuit which was filed the day prior. Absolute chance.