Change Healthcare Updates Number Of Those Impacted By Cyberattack
The Change Healthcare cyberattack brought much of healthcare to a halt in 2024 for many months. UnitedHealth Group, Change’s parent, earlier said that 100 million people were impacted. It now has updated that number to 190 million or about 57% of the nation’s population.
The cyberattack posed a significant financial cost to UnitedHealth Group, with the company projecting that it would take a $2.9 billion hit. More important, it had huge costs for providers, health plans, pharmacies, and other healthcare entities. All of these entities relied on Change’s vast service and processing systems.
The attackers used stolen credentials and breached a server that did not have two-factor authentication – a rookie mistake in security. The attackers were paid a ransom yet still took information from the servers.
United says it is not aware of a misuse of data, but that is little solace or relief for those impacted. How can you trust the healthcare monolith after it lied and failed to inform throughout the crisis. United was clearly negligent when it came to security, its lack of preparedness for such an event, and its failure to modernize infrastructure and technology. It will see far greater costs than it anticipates. Providers, health plans, and pharmacies should sue for the billions in costs due to the event.
In many ways, this is a lesson in the arrogance of big health plans and why vertical integration has gone too far. Profit and margins were more important than good governance of healthcare data.
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