NY hospitals' patient care was hurt by cyberattack. Now they could get federal aid
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Hospitals across New York negatively impacted by the Change Healthcare cyberattack would gain access to advanced federal payments under a plan being pushed by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer.
The ransomware hacking incident last month — which disrupted insurance claims and prescriptions at health providers affiliated with UnitedHealth Group, one of the largest health care companies nationally — endangered hospitals' financial stability and patient care throughout New York, the Democratic senator said Monday in a statement.
Eligible hospitals would get paid through the Accelerated and Advance Payment Program, which allows the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid to make pre-payments to cover cyberattack-stalled claims from hospitals, Schumer said.
One Southern Tier health system, Cayuga Health, had more than 20,000 claims on hold due to the cyberattack and, as a result, over $1.5 million per day in cash flow suspended, he added.
It remains unclear how many hospitals in New York have been impacted, but trade groups have asserted Change Healthcare transactions touch one in every three patient records.
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What is the United Health, Change Healthcare cyberattack?
The cyberattack began on Feb. 21 against Change Healthcare, which is a health care technology company that is part of Optum and owned by UnitedHealth Group, according to the American Hospital Association.
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The company processes 15 billion health care transactions annually and touches one in every three patient records. These transactions include a range of services that directly affect patient care, including eligibility verifications and pharmacy operations, as well as claims transmittals and payment. All of these have been disrupted to varying degrees, the hospital trade group noted in a statement.
During a media briefing in the Mohawk Valley, Schumer also pushed federal authorities to prioritize their investigation of the hacking incident, calling it "a calculated attack on our nation’s critical healthcare system."
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Change Healthcare cyberattack: How feds plan to help NY hospitals
