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National Federation of the Blind Sues Epic Systems: New Chapter in Accessibility Litigation for Employers and Technology Vendors
By Steven E. Helland
In December 2018, the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) sued Epic Systems, a provider of one of the most widely-used electronic medical record systems in the country.
This is a substantial development in an extraordinarily active area of litigation.
Until now, virtually all website, app and technology accessibility litigation has been focused on Title III (the “public accommodation” provision) of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and equivalent state laws, which protect consumers. This new case, NFB v. Epic, is significant in that its central claim is that Epic’s alleged inaccessible software and technology results in illegal disability discrimination against blind healthcare workers and employees.
A quote from NFB’s Complaint:
“While Epic has taken steps to make patient-facing portions of its electronic health record software accessible with screen reading software so that blind patients are able to access their health information, Epic has not made the clinical or administration-facing portions of its software accessible [...]