A February cyberattack on Change Healthcare is costing Massachusetts hospitals an estimated $24 million per day by disrupting payments, patient records, and pharmacy orders. The breach has reportedly cost the company over $22 million in ransom payments, and services are slowly being restored.
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We begin at 5:30 with the growing financial impact that a cyber attack continues to have on hospitals here in Massachusetts.
Yeah, so one statewide group says that this attack is costing those hospitals $24 million every single day. NBC 10's John Maroney joining us live from Cambridge with a closer look at the toll the attack is taking, as well as reaction from cybersecurity experts.
John, Colin, it is a reminder that nothing is safe from cyber attack, including one of the state's most important industries, healthcare.
This system needs to get fixed.
Massachusetts hospitals are losing millions of dollars a day after a massive cyberattack last month. Change Healthcare says it handles 15 billion medical transactions each year. It was hacked in February, disrupting things like payments, patient information, and even pharmacy orders.
Sometimes it takes 1 hour to 2 hours for one single patient to find their insurance.
The Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association recently surveyed its members. It says the incident is costing Bay State hospitals more than $24 million every 24 hours. The problem is pervasive, from hospitals to physicians to all kinds of providers. Change Healthcare is the largest medical claims processing company in the country.
This particular breach is the perfect storm for both consumers and for the healthcare industry. Uh, not only are consumers extremely vulnerable because of the data that's being compromised, the healthcare industry is definitely under attack.
The company is not responding to reports it paid more than $22 million to the hackers. The CEO of Change Healthcare's parent company did say in a statement, we are committed to providing relief for people affected by this malicious attack on the U.S. health system. We're determined to make this right as fast as possible. Robert Siciliano is a Boston-based cybersecurity consultant.
What makes the healthcare industry so unique is how large what we call the attack surface, which means it's wide and so deep, and there's so much to go after for the bad guys.
Now, Change Healthcare says that the system for pharmacies is back up and running. It hopes to have the claims network back up starting next week. We'll have in Cambridge, John Maroney, NBC 10 Boston.
