The crippling hack U.S. officials long feared looked nothing like they expected.
The Feb. 21 cybercriminal attack on medical billing processor Change Healthcare didn’t flatten power grids or poison water supplies. But by forcing the $13 billion company offline, it severed one of the few links connecting health care providers to insurance firms — and triggered a cash crunch at hospitals, health clinics and pharmacies nationwide.
U.S. officials, lawmakers and health executives are focused right now on ensuring that health care providers are not forced to close, miss payroll or deny patients access to medical care. UnitedHealth Group, which owns Change, has said its key claims and payments services won’t be fully restored until March 22.
Read the rest of the story at POLITICO, here.
