Digital Gatekeepers and Platform Power: Three Landmark Lawsuits Reshaping Healthcare and Tech Markets

Abstract

Three pivotal antitrust lawsuits from 2020-2025 have fundamentally challenged how dominant technology platforms control access to digital ecosystems and data. Epic Games v. Apple, Particle Health v. Epic Systems, and Real Time Medical Systems v. PointClickCare reveal striking parallels in how market-leading platforms leverage their gatekeeper positions to stifle competition and innovation. This analysis examines the common threads running through these cases: the concentration of platform power, information blocking as an anticompetitive tool, and the transformation of essential digital infrastructure into competitive weapons.

For health tech entrepreneurs, these cases illuminate critical dynamics in data access, interoperability, and platform competition that will shape the industry's future. The outcomes suggest a judicial recognition that traditional antitrust frameworks must evolve to address the unique challenges posed by digital platforms that control both the infrastructure and the rules of competition.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. The Platform Dominance Paradigm

3. Epic v. Apple: The Consumer Platform Precedent

4. Particle Health v. Epic Systems: Healthcare Data as Moat

5. Real Time Medical Systems v. PointClickCare: Information Blocking as Weapon

6. Convergent Patterns in Platform Control

7. Implications for Health Tech Innovation

8. Regulatory Response and Future Outlook

9. Conclusion

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Introduction

The digital economy has witnessed an unprecedented concentration of power among platform companies that control the essential infrastructure for innovation and commerce. Three landmark lawsuits spanning 2020 to 2025 illuminate how this concentration manifests across different sectors, revealing remarkably similar patterns of behavior despite occurring in vastly different markets. Epic Games' battle with Apple over App Store policies, Particle Health's antitrust challenge against Epic Systems' healthcare data monopoly, and Real Time Medical Systems' fight against PointClickCare's information blocking practices represent more than isolated disputes over specific business practices. They collectively demonstrate how dominant platforms systematically leverage their gatekeeper positions to eliminate competitive threats while maintaining the veneer of legitimate business justification.

These cases matter profoundly for health tech entrepreneurs who must navigate an increasingly complex landscape where access to data, patients, and distribution channels is controlled by a handful of powerful intermediaries. The healthcare industry, traditionally insulated from some of the competitive dynamics seen in consumer technology, now faces similar challenges as digital platforms become the primary means of delivering care, managing patient information, and facilitating provider-payer interactions. Understanding how courts are beginning to address platform power provides crucial insights for entrepreneurs seeking to build scalable health tech businesses without falling victim to anticompetitive gatekeeping.

The Platform Dominance Paradigm