Pharmacies getting back on track after Change Healthcare hack
GRAND RAPIDS TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — Pharmacies in West Michigan are catching up on prescriptions after technology company Change Healthcare was hacked, causing delays across the country.
“(Patients) would either have to wait for their prescription — if it was a new prescription — until the intermediary came back up and we could communicate back with the insurance companies, or they would have the option of paying the full cash price for their prescription and getting reimbursed,” pharmacist David Miller explained.
The pharmacy he owns, Keystone Compounding Pharmacy near Grand Rapids, has caught up on the backlog caused by the hack, but it is taking longer for the big pharmacy chains.
“If they couldn’t fill them those weeks then they’re going to be made up in the forthcoming weeks,” Miller said.
Hack of US health care tech company leads to billing delays, security concerns
Getting a prescription filled is a digital process in which doctors are connected electronically with pharmacies. At Miller’s pharmacy, the main company impacted was Express Scripts, which manages prescription benefits.
“When that intermediary goes down and pharmacies aren’t able to communicate with insurance companies for the patients, we have no idea if they’re covered, we have no idea what their copays may be, we have no idea if the prescription that they’re getting could be covered by the insurance company,” Miller said, “so it really just puts a wall in the system that can’t be overcome.”
Vijay Bhuse, the program chair for cybersecurity at Grand Valley State University, says ransomware attacks like this are becoming more common.
“Since 2016, the attacks on hospitals and health care have doubled,” Bhuse said. “Generally, they will hack into the server, they will get access to data that is critical to the business and they will copy it outside of the server, delete from the server, or encrypt on the server and then ask you for a ransom.”
He said companies can’t prevent every attack, so the best ways to be prepared are with backup systems and to plan on how to respond.
“We can minimize the impact of these things on day-to-day operations by having a disaster recovery plan and avoiding single point of failure,” Bhuse said.
In responding to the attack, independent pharmacies like Keystone had greater flexibility that allowed it to help patients on a short-term basis until the issue was resolved.
“If we decide that a patient would be harmed by not receiving their medication for a few days, we make sure that they have their medications to get them through,” Miller said.
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