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Wednesday, Mar 20 2024

Full Issue

Experts Say Health Industry Isn't Spending Enough On Cybersecurity

The industry isn't spending enough to prevent future hacking attacks like the one that impacted Change Healthcare recently, cybersecurity professionals say. Meanwhile, UnitedHealth Group is increasing loan offers to help with the aftermath.

Healthcare鈥檚 lack of investment in cybersecurity is in the spotlight as the Change Healthcare breach continues to disrupt the industry. ... Cybersecurity professionals are sounding the alarm聽on聽future attacks if healthcare organizations don't start聽putting more financial resources into protecting their data. 鈥淭he landscape has changed. The threats are higher,鈥 said David Ting, chief technology officer and founder of cybersecurity company Tausight. 鈥淲e should be going to DEFCON 2.鈥 (Turner, 3/19)聽

Federal officials and industry executives have known for years that the U.S. health-care system was one of the critical industries most vulnerable to hacking but failed to make the improvements that might have stopped attacks like the one that has crippled pharmacists and other medical providers for three weeks. The danger was obvious in 2021, when ransomware gangs struck hospitals already overwhelmed by the covid-19 pandemic, forcing some to divert incoming emergency patients to other facilities and potentially contributing to deadly treatment delays. Menn, 3/19)

UnitedHealth Group appears to be offering some providers more substantial loans in the wake of the cyberattack on Change Healthcare, according to three doctors who each saw their advances increase up to seven figures. (Trang and Bannow, 3/19)

UnitedHealth Group's Change Healthcare has restored some of its system a month after a catastrophic cyberattack crippled it and much of the nation's healthcare infrastructure, but the recovery process is only just beginning. Other companies offering revenue cycle management are gaining traction amid the Change outage, filling in service gaps left by a dominant player that likely won't be operating normally for weeks. (Hudson and Berryman, 3/19)

This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
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