The healthcare industry is one of the biggest in the United States today. It takes a lot of time, workers, and money to get and keep people healthy. Today, a lot of the processing done in the medical industry is digital. This not only means that sensitive information is being stored online but claims are being made through digital services.
In most cases this is a massive net positive, it saves on time, space, and personnel. However recent cyber attacks have revealed what happens when this process goes wrong. Change Healthcare is the biggest data transfer platform used in the healthcare industry. It allows the payer and provider to transfer data securely and quickly, at least, it did.
Recently, in early 2024, Change Healthcare experienced massive outages due to a collection of cyber attacks. This meant billing and processing for medication, health services, and other essential services were crippled. Payers were unable to submit payments, and providers were unable to submit claims. Millions of dollars in transactions went temporarily unpaid and unfulfilled.
What does this mean for the healthcare industry? It means that these intermediaries between payer and provider need to be analyzed more closely. Further inspection revealed that Change Healthcare had notably weak cybersecurity. There’s no doubt that much of the fault lies with this company itself. However, the providers themselves are not without blame.
Decentralization of processing is an essential step to take in the modern age. Change Healthcare processes 50% of all medical claims in the United States. It’s no surprise that providers who exclusively use Change will experience issues when it fails. This is not only important on a larger scale, but even in smaller moments where Change falters.
Decentralization by using payer redundancy acts as a solution to this problem by reducing risk and redundancy. If a processing service is down or experiencing issues, a provider who uses multiple can still function. It’s such a simple solution to a problem that can cost hospitals and other places millions. Healthcare is undeniably important, but that doesn’t mean that it’s being well operated. Recent cyberattacks revealed this weakness, but it could potentially be one of many. Moving forward healthcare providers need to be more careful as to save themselves and the average person in need.