
More than two weeks after a cyberattack, financially strapped doctors, hospitals and health care providers on Friday sharply criticized UnitedHealth Group’s latest initiative. estimate that it would take weeks more to fully restore a digital network that channels hundreds of millions of dollars in insurance payments every day.
UnitedHealth said it would be at least two more weeks to test and establish a steady stream of payments for bills that have increased since hackers effectively shut down Change Healthcare, the nation’s largest billing and payment clearinghouse, on July 21. February.
But desperate providers who have been borrowing money to cover expenses and employee payrolls expressed skepticism of that estimate, worried that it could be months before the claims and payment logjam becomes clear.
“We have an almost three-week gap in cash flow,” said Brad Larsen, a psychologist and founder of Portland Mental Health & Wellness in Oregon, adding that the group had received only about 10 percent of expected insurance payments. . He said the practice had to borrow $300,000 to cover the first of two payrolls for the month. “Not good.”
In an apparent move to appease some suppliers who had expressed disappointment with United’s earlier remedy of a loan program that offered interim payments of as little as $20 a week, the parent company agreed to issue advances. United announced that its insurer, the largest in the United States, would begin advancing payments to hospitals and doctors based on amounts billed before the cyberattack.
And since Change manages one in three U.S. patient records (representing 15 billion transactions a year), the cyberattack affected not only United customers but also those of many other insurers. That led the UnitedHealth executive to recommend that they also offer retainers. “To me, that’s the quickest way to get money into the hands of suppliers,” Dirk McMahon, United’s president and chief operating officer, said in an interview. .
The depth of the cyberattack, which paralyzed billing and payments from the simplest prescriptions at a pharmacy to the most expensive surgeries, has shaken the industry and the government. Some have expressed concern that the worst is far from over, fearing that the ransomware attack will compromise patient data.
UnitedHealth Group has declined to comment on whether its policyholders’ information, whether financial or medical or through coverage at pharmacies, hospitals or clinics, had been hacked. His only response has been to say that he continues to work with law enforcement in an investigation of the attack. The FBI and US cybersecurity experts have been conducting an investigation.
On March 1, a Bitcoin address connected to the alleged hackers, a group known as AlphV or BlackCat, received a $22 million transaction that some security firms said was likely a ransom payment made by United to the group, according to a news article in cabling. United declined to comment, as did future engravingthe security company that initially detected the payment.
“United has not been forthcoming about the information that has been disclosed to hackers,” said Ed Tilley, a licensed clinical social worker in Charlotte, North Carolina. Among the information you typically submit for billing on the Change network is the patient’s date of birth and diagnosis. . “If my patients’ identifying information has been revealed, I feel obligated to tell them,” he said.
Since the cyberattack became public, UnitedHealth Group shares have fallen 7.7 percent.
UnitedHealth Group said payments would only begin to be available around March 15 and that it would begin testing and establishing connections that allow hospitals and doctors to submit claims the week of March 18. But Mr. McMahon acknowledged that this time period could change. “We’re in a very fluid environment,” he said.
“We’re working like crazy to get these systems in place,” McMahon said.
While most of the gaps in pharmaceutical transactions appear to be resolved, he suggested that hospitals and doctors should continue to look for solutions. However, for some providers, that has meant switching to Change’s competitors, which are now inundated with new claims and struggling to manage a larger workload.
“I submitted some complaints to the new system, which took a couple of hours, and then I said, ‘Where are they?'” And this bubble popped up saying, ‘No one can respond to you right now.’ “said Angela Belleville, a mental health counselor in Salem, Massachusetts. “I tried again yesterday and the system was completely frozen.”
Other major insurers have remained silent on whether they would issue advances, as McMahon suggested, or offer other relief.
“It’s been crickets,” said Chip Kahn, president of the Federation of American Hospitals, which represents for-profit hospitals. As money from previously filed claims begins to dry up, “you’re in the danger zone,” he said.
Smaller businesses, in particular, don’t have piles of cash to tide them over while they wait for new refunds.
“We’re already past the two-week mark and people are starting to worry,” said Maggie Williams, co-owner of Flourish Business Solutions, which advises medical offices on billing.
She says she has been receiving calls from doctors worried that they won’t be able to make payroll or will eventually have to stop providing services to patients in the coming weeks. “Many times there are no reserves to be able to sustain services or payroll,” she said.
In a statement, the American Hospital Association, a trade group, said: “Nothing in the announcement materially changes the chronic cash flow implications and uncertainty our nation’s hospitals and doctors are experiencing as a result.” The group also said it would be “weeks, if not months, before our hospitals and other healthcare providers recover.”
The powerful hospital lobby was among those that have been asking federal officials to ease these pressures by speeding up Medicare reimbursements to providers, similar to efforts made during the pandemic to help hospitals and doctors.
This week, the Department of Health and Human Services announced a series of measures, including attempting to advance Medicare payments to providers. The department urged private insurers to do so as well and asked private Medicare plans to relax or waive much-criticized prior authorization rules that make it difficult for providers to pay for care.
UnitedHealthcare also announced it would relax its prior authorization requirements for its Medicare Advantage policies through the end of March.
Beyond news of the damage caused by the cyberattack, the shutdown of parts of Change Healthcare brought renewed attention to the consolidation of medical companies, physician groups and other entities under UnitedHealth Group. United’s acquisition of Change in a $13 billion deal in 2022 was initially challenged by federal prosecutors but went ahead after the government lost the case.
On Friday, providers seeking advice or help from a customer service human at Change Healthcare were greeted with a recorded message: “Due to unforeseen circumstances, we are unable to answer your call at this time. Please try to make the call again later. Thank you for calling.” And then the call was disconnected.