Patients or payroll? US healthcare hack creates hard choices
By Julie Steenhuysen
CHICAGO (Reuters) — Nearly two weeks after the ransomware attack on UnitedHealth (NYSE:UNH)'s Change Healthcare (NASDAQ:CHNG) unit that has disrupted claims processing across the U.S., doctors are beginning to face a no win choice — stop treating patients or stop paying staff.
The attack, which was disclosed on Feb. 21, shut down the system that many doctors depend on to verify insurance coverage, file claims and get paid, sparking a campaign by hospitals and doctors for the U.S. government to provide financial relief as it did during the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Tuesday the government said it would push its Medicare contractors to provide flexible payment terms.
«We have an impending disaster on our hands,» said Mel Davies, chief financial officer of Oregon Specialty Group, an independent practice that treats more than 16,000 patients with cancer, infectious disease and autoimmune conditions.
So far, the practice has found ways to pay the $500,000 to $1 million daily cost of chemotherapy and other intravenous drugs delivered at their infusion centers out of cash flow, but reserves are running low.
«If this doesn't get fixed, we can't treat patients because we won't have the money to pay for labor to even keep our doors open,” she said.
Many practices across the country have been unable to submit insurance claims for reimbursement since the hack, according to the American Medical Association (AMA).
UnitedHealth on its website on Tuesday said as providers implement workarounds, 90% of claims are going through, but added that there are still „a number“ of providers who are unable to submit claims or receive payment.
The company said it expects to bring the claims technology fully back online, but not
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