Category: cybersecurity

The February cyberattack on UnitedHealthcare’s subsidiary Change Healthcare affected healthcare organizations across the country as revenue flow was crippled. But what has healthcare learned from the incident?

Ascension hospitals across the country continued to deal with the fallout of a “cybersecurity event” May 9 involving its St. Louis-based parent system.

A cyberattack is disrupting clinical operations at St. Louis-based Ascension.

Hospital associations are urging UnitedHealthcare’s CEO to provide a breach notification on behalf of the hospitals and health systems affected by the Feb. 21 attack on its subsidiary Change Healthcare. 

In a letter to patients, Poway, Calif.-based Palomar Health Medical Group said it is investigating “suspicious activity on certain computer systems within its network,” NBC San Diego reported May 7. 

The U.S. government has charged the alleged mastermind of a hacking group that extorted hospitals.

Hospitals should be on the lookout for “vishing,” a new form of cybercrime that uses artificial intelligence, a health system CIO said.

Hackers accessed employee email accounts at Columbia, Md.-based MedStar Health, compromising the data of 183,079 patients, the health system said in a May 3 notice on its website. 

American Hospital Association President and CEO Rick Pollack said the recent hearings about the Change Healthcare hack have shed light on the extensive reach and influence of UnitedHealth Group, the parent company of Change. 

Hospitals are often concerned about sharing information about cyberattacks, even with one another, because of liability concerns, a health system CIO testified before Congress.