CNN —For more than two weeks, a cyberattack has disrupted business at health care providers across the United States, forcing small clinics to scramble to stay in business and exposing the fragility of the billing system that underpins American health care. It prevented some insurance payments on prescription drugs from processing, leaving many care providers effectively footing the bill without reimbursement. Health care groups have pleaded with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to offer medical practices a financial lifeline. A week ago, Change Healthcare announced plans for a temporary loan program to get money flowing to health care providers affected by the outage. Tyler Mason, a spokesperson for Change Healthcare, declined to comment when asked if the company had paid off the hackers.

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Persons: ”, Catherine Reinheimer, Mel Davies, ” Jesse Ehrenfeld, Reinheimer, Richard Pollack, Carter Groome, ” Groome, Tyler Mason, ALPHV, ” Ari Redbord, Joshua Corman, Corman, “ Organizations: CNN, Change Healthcare, Health, Department of Health, Human Services, Oregon Oncology, Healthcare, American Medical Association, US, Medical Group Management Association, Community Oncology Alliance, American Hospital Association, Justice Department, ALPHV, Labs Locations: United States, Philadelphia, UnitedHealth, Oregon