The recent cyberattack on the billing and payment colossus Change Healthcare revealed just how serious the vulnerabilities are throughout the U.S. health care system, and alerted industry leaders and policymakers to the urgent need for better digital security.
Hospitals, health insurers, physician clinics and others in the industry have increasingly been the targets of significant hacks, culminating in the assault on Change, a unit of the giant UnitedHealth Group, on Feb. 21.
The ransomware attack on the nation’s largest clearinghouse, which handles a third of all patient records, had widespread effects.
Fixes and workarounds have alleviated some distress, but providers are still unable to collect billions of dollars in payments.
Even now, very little information about the exact nature and scope of the attack has been disclosed.
Persons:
UnitedHealth
Organizations:
Healthcare, UnitedHealth
Locations:
U.S