Resources for Physicians in Aftermath of Cyberattack on Change Healthcare
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) distributed these resources to assist physicians, pharmacists, and hospitals, with the aftermath of the Change Healthcare cybersecurity attacks.
HHS has been told on several occasions that physicians were having difficulty securing information from health insurers about the availability of assistance with payments, flexibilities from administrative requirements, and additional contact information for troubleshooting due to the Change Healthcare cybersecurity attacks. Other interested parties raised similar issues. HHS responded by assembling the linked resources from health insurers. Please note the HHS’ cover letter points out that the resource document contains a national contact person for each plan, though HHS urges physicians, pharmacists, and hospitals, to reach out first to their health insurer’s regional contact. If these contacts do not respond to inquiries, please contact [email protected].
The AMA will continue to raise physician concerns to the Biden administration and payers. For more information, please visit the AMA webpage dedicated to this topic.
Federation Survey re: Change Healthcare Cyberattack | Response Requested by Friday, March 29
Since the Change Healthcare cyberattack in February and resulting system outages, the American Medical Association (AMA) has urged federal and state regulators to support physician practices with financial assistance and flexibilities in administrative requirements. To assess the current level of workflow disruptions and financial impact on practices, the AMA has prepared an informal, 11-question survey.
Physicians are asked to return their response by Friday, March 29. The survey results will be used to inform our ongoing advocacy efforts on this issue.
For the latest information on the Change Healthcare cyberattack response, please visit the AMA webpage dedicated to this topic
15 Best, Worst States for Physicians in 2024
Connecticut Ranked in the Middle for Physicians to Practice
Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska are the top three states for physicians to practice in the U.S., according to WalletHub’s 2024 ranking published March 18. Hawaii, Rhode Island and New Jersey were deemed the worst.
The annual ranking is based on two key dimensions: opportunity and competition, and medical environment. Within those dimensions, WalletHub evaluated 19 metrics, including average annual wage, number of hospitals per capita, quality of the public health system and hospital safety grades. Each of the 19 metrics were graded on a 100-point scale, with 100 representing the most favorable conditions for physicians. WalletHub used the average across all metrics used to calculate an overall score.
Click Here for Article from Becker’s Hospital News
How Much Money are Hackers Selling Medical Records for?
Medical records are selling for $60 on the dark web, CNBC reported March 15.
Cybersecurity researcher Jeremiah Fowler told the publication that medical records go for the highest amount on the dark web compared to Social Security numbers, which sell for $15, and credit card information, which sells for $3.
“Health-care data being exposed is a lot worse than most other data and the bad guys know this,” Sumedh Thakar, CEO of cybersecurity company Qualys, told CNBC.