James Fox, Campus Carrier staff writer
In late February, the healthcare provider Change Healthcare suffered a cyber attack, which has had a significant impact on healthcare providers and facilities and many individuals that have healthcare. With Change Healthcare completely down in light of the cyber attack, healthcare providers have not been able to have their claims processed, which prevents them from getting paid.
“Since the February 21 attack, the thousands of doctors, hospitals, and other health providers that depend on Change Healthcare for billing reimbursements have not been paid as the company works to bring its systems back online,” CNBC content editor Susan Caminiti said in an article. “The breach is a nightmare for health providers who claim they are running out of cash to run their practices as they wait for Change Healthcare payments, as well as for consumers who are seeing delays in getting prescriptions filled.”
The cyber attack, conducted by a group called Blackcat who have claimed responsibility, has led many to worry about the increasing digitization of healthcare as attacks like this one will likely continue to happen unless groups such as Change Healthcare dedicate more resources towards cybersecurity.
“This incident is a reminder of the interconnectedness of the domestic healthcare ecosystem and of the urgency of strengthening cybersecurity resiliency across the ecosystem,” a statement from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HSS) said.
The situation has become dire enough for the Federal Government to involve itself by offering emergency funds to healthcare providers. Medicaid is also offering advance payments to providers.
“Federal health officials said they would offer emergency funding to physicians, physical therapists, and other professionals that provide outpatient healthcare,” Washington Post reporter Dan Diamond said in an article. “The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMM) services also announced that it would make advance payments available to suppliers that bill through Medicaid Part B.”
Despite the federal government doing its best to provide aid, many healthcare leaders say it is not enough, and are asking
0for more.
“UnitedHealth had previously announced that it would make emergency payments available to healthcare providers affected by the Change Healthcare hack, but physicians have said the offers are insufficient,” Diamond said. “Some doctors who are waiting for hundreds of thousands of dollars in bills to be paid have reported receiving offers of a few thousand dollars. Healthcare leaders on Saturday called on Congress to take more actions to address the ongoing crisis, such as mandating that other private-health plans also advance emergency funding to physicians, and hospitals.”
Smaller clinics are still struggling with the effects of the cyber attack as they return to the point of recovery. While recovery is a lengthy process, the goal is the system returning to normal.