AHA Survey: Change Healthcare Cyberattack Significantly Disrupts Patient Care, Hospitals’ Finances

On Feb. 21, Change Healthcare, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, was the victim of the most significant and consequential cyberattack on the U.S. health care system in American history. Change Healthcare processes 15 billion health care transactions annually and touches 1 in every 3 patient records. These transactions include a range of services that directly affect patient care, including eligibility verifications and pharmacy operations, as well as claims transmittals and payment. Since this attack, patients have struggled to get timely access to care and billions of dollars have stopped flowing to providers, thereby threatening the financial viability of hospitals, health systems, physician offices and other providers.

The American Hospital Association fielded a survey to all U.S. hospitals on the impact of the Change Healthcare cyberattack The following results represent responses from nearly 1,000 hospitals and were collected between Friday, March 9, 2024 and Tuesday, March 12, 2024.

74% of hospitals report direct patient care impact. Nearly 40% report patients having difficulty accessing care because of delays in processing of health plan utilization requirements (e.g. prior authorization).

94% of hospitals report financial impact, with more than half reporting 'significant or serious' impart. 83% of hospitals report impacts on their cash flow.

Most hospitals are implementing workarounds, but they are labor instensive and costly. 67% report it is 'difficult or very difficult' to switch clearinghouses. 81% have found the workarounds to be only somewhat successful, while an additional 11% have not found them to be successful.


© 2024 American Hospital Association | March 2024 |  www.aha.org