This week in the Change Healthcare hack fallout: 10 notable quotes

1. ‘To assist care providers whose finances have been disrupted by the cyberattack, the company has advanced more than $2 billion thus far through multiple initiatives. The company recognizes the high level of fragmentation of the U.S. health system can result in uneven experiences, therefore it continues to enhance and expand funding support to make it easier for care providers to access funding help at no cost. To further assist care providers, the company also suspended prior authorizations for most outpatient services and utilization review of inpatient admissions for Medicare Advantage plans.’

—UnitedHealth Group. Source: “UnitedHealth Group Cyberattack Status Update,” UnitedHealthGroup.com, March 18

2. ‘Private-sector opposition to effective cybersecurity rules is the number one reason our critical infrastructure, particularly in the healthcare sector, is so woefully unprepared for even unsophisticated cyberattacks. … As these companies have become so large, it is creating a systemic cybersecurity risk.’

—Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). “Four big questions for DC following massive healthcare hack,” Politico, March 18

3. ‘Insurance executives and U.S. health officials believe the worst effects of the Change Healthcare hack are easing and that the industry is in the last mile of the crisis. … The Feb. 21 cyberattack on the UnitedHealth Group Inc. subsidiary is expected to cost the healthcare system hundreds of millions of dollars. ... The hack halted billions of dollars in medical payments and left many providers under financial duress.’

—Bloomberg.com. “Health Hack Will Burden US With Hundreds of Millions in Costs,” March 18

4. ‘We are taking in all aspects of the response and advising, but frankly, holding UnitedHealth Group accountable.’

—anonymous senior Biden administration official who didn’t elaborate on what steps the government is taking but offered that the administration is in daily contact with UnitedHealth, sometimes multiple times during the day. “UnitedHealth Begins Testing Restored Change Healthcare Claims Platform,” The Wall Street Journal, March 18

5. ‘I look at my bank statement and think, next week’s payroll, we’re going to be dipping way down in our account.’

—Molly Gratton, LCSW, clinical director of Molly and Me Counseling, a three-site play-therapy clinic for children. “Idaho therapist only collects 15% of payments after Change Healthcare cyberattack,” KTVB-7, March 19

6. ‘To make the information secure, distribute it to all the true payers: the patients. [Let] patients have very large, unlimited family health savings accounts (HSAs) funded by the premiums currently paid to insurance companies by employers. … Healthcare ransomware attacks would become a thing of the past.’

—Deane Waldman, MD, MBA, professor emeritus of pediatrics, pathology and decision science at the University of New Mexico. “How to Prevent Healthcare Cyberattacks,” RealClear Health, March 20

7. ‘ALPHV/BlackCat and their affiliates haven’t attacked Change Healthcare. This time, they’ve attacked our families. I don’t believe we’ll succeed in shaming ransomware gangs into proper behavior. But we can out-market them by controlling the narrative and modernizing our healthcare infrastructure at the same time.’

—Morgan Wright, senior fellow at the Center for Digital Government. “The Change Healthcare attack points out the real need to modernize healthcare cybersecurity,” SC Media, March 20

8. ‘There’s no fat to cut.’

—Kristine Georges, executive director at Tulip Tree Family Health Care in Indiana. “UnitedHealth hack takes toll on healthcare providers to the nation’s poor,” Reuters, March 20

9. ‘Lawsuits have started to be filed against UnitedHealth Group, Optum Inc. and Change Healthcare by healthcare providers that have been unable to access Change Healthcare’s services due to the shutdown of its computer networks … The severe delays in processing claims and revenue cycle services have pushed many healthcare providers close to bankruptcy.’

—Steve Alder, editor-in-chief of HIPAA Journal. “Healthcare Providers Sue UnitedHealth Group Over Change Healthcare Ransomware Attack,” HIPAA Journal, March 20

10. ‘The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service has distributed up to $3 billion to healthcare providers struggling with the Change Healthcare outage, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said Wednesday.’

—Modern Healthcare. “Lawmakers press HHS over Change Healthcare response,” March 20