The next time patients log into the near-universal online health portal MyChart, they will be pushed to sign away their ability to sue the parent company if it mishandles their sensitive health information.

Epic Systems — the largest electronic health records company in the country and owner of MyChart — is rolling out a new terms-of-service agreement that includes binding arbitration language and a class-action waiver. These clauses compel patients to forfeit their legal right to band together in class-action lawsuits and instead direct them into a private court system, known as arbitration, where they face slim chances of winning their cases.

The new MyChart terms-of-service update comes at a time when the nation’s largest health insurance company, UnitedHealth Group, is facing numerous class-action lawsuits from consumers and physicians for a 2024 ransomware attack resulting in a massive breach of patient data. By slipping these new clauses into its terms of service, Epic could be attempting to avoid the same onslaught of litigation if it faces its own data breach or internal malfunctions, which large-scale institutions are particularly susceptible to.

Patients can still use MyChart if they don’t sign the agreement, but they will only be able to access a downgraded version with limited features. Epic is likely banking on most users accepting the updates without consideration; a 2017 Deloitte survey reportedly found that 91 percent of US consumers sign terms and conditions without reading them.

In recent decades, many corporations have slipped arbitration provisions into their agreements with workers and consumers to shield themselves from legal accountability for damages ranging from defective products to wage theft and antitrust violations.

The arbitration courts that oversee the resulting legal matters have been criticized for a variety of practices that tilt the playing field in favor of corporate defendants over class-action plaintiffs, the latter of which have been found to lose in arbitration upward of 76 percent of the time. Critics contend this is primarily because of an inherent conflict of interest: these private judges are employed by arbitration firms that work at the behest of their corporate clients.

However, a recent court ruling could expose Epic’s arbitration agreement to legal challenges. A judge in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Ticketmaster’s arbitration clause, in part because the firm’s market power over ticketing meant consumers had no other alternative and therefore were unable to voluntarily accept the contract.

Epic’s software manages the electronic health records for around 80 percent of the US population, and MyChart is used across 39 percent of all hospital systems, making its services virtually ubiquitous.

Epic is, in fact, currently facing an antitrust lawsuit from a rival health records company for allegedly holding a monopoly. That market power makes Epic’s binding arbitration agreement practically unavoidable.