By Daniel Gilbert and Dan Diamond, The Washington PostUnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty before lawmakers Wednesday. Witty said the personal information of about 1 in 3 Americans might be affected by the Change Healthcare hack, which was detected Feb. 21, and that the firm was still reviewing the extent of the theft.
Witty said the personal information of about one-third of Americans might be affected by the Change Healthcare hack, which was detected Feb. 21, and that the company was still reviewing the extent of the stolen data. Witty committed that UnitedHealth would impose multifactor authentication on its systems across the company within six months. He said the company has advanced more than $6.5 billion in no-interest loans to practices affected by the cyberattack.
Witty countered that his company was not too large, noting UnitedHealth does not own hospitals in the United States nor drug manufacturers. He also took issue with estimates that UnitedHealth employs 90,000 physicians, saying the vast majority were contracted or affiliated. “They choose to work with us,” he said.
The hack and UnitedHealth’s aggressive growth by buying up such companies as Change Healthcare took center stage at Wednesday’s hearings by the Senate Finance Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Witty’s appearance marked the first time in 15 years that a UnitedHealth chief executive has testified on Capitol Hill.
The abrupt outage at Change Healthcare left pharmacists, doctors and hospitals scrambling to find another electronic clearinghouse that could route their claims to insurers. While many were able to switch to rival clearinghouses, some said that technical requirements or contractual agreements with Change Healthcare prevented them from doing so, further delaying their ability to submit medical claims. Federal officials took steps to help tide over stricken providers and facilities.
“This was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make,” Witty said of paying the ransom. “And I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.”
Source: Healthcare Press (healthcarepress.net)
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