Medicare announces emergency funds for doctors affected by Change Healthcare hack

Source: Washington Post

Updated March 9, 2024 at 2:59 p.m. EST|Published March 9, 2024 at 1:56 p.m. EST


Federal health officials on Saturday said they would offer emergency funding to physicians, physical therapists and other professionals that provide outpatient health care, following a cyberattack that crippled the nation’s largest processor of medical claims and left many organizations in financial distress.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also announced that it would make advance payments available to suppliers that bill through Medicare Part B, which serves a wide array of health-care organizations. Officials had previously announced a similar program to make emergency payments available for hospitals that had been ensnared by the Feb. 21 hack of Change Healthcare, a unit of UnitedHealth Group, and have struggled to get paid for more than two weeks. The emergency funds represent upfront payments made to health-care providers and suppliers based on their expected future claims.

“CMS looks forward to continuing to support the provider community during this difficult situation,” the agency said in a statement, laying out eligibility requirements for providers seeking the emergency funds. CMS and its parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, have also encouraged private health plans to expedite payments and take other steps as the U.S. health system reels from weeks of unpaid bills.

Lawmakers and physicians on Saturday said that emergency funding would offer sorely needed financial relief to physician groups and other health-care providers that have rapidly exhausted their cash reserves and are struggling to meet payroll. Members of Congress and the health-care industry had panned federal officials for not making more help available for physicians and suppliers, saying that the smaller organizations needed emergency aid more than deeper-pocketed hospitals.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/03/09/medicare-change-healthcare-hack/