Major U.S. Health Data Breach Disrupts Hospitals and Patient Care
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Hack of health-care company Change Healthcare has severely disrupted hospitals, doctor offices, pharmacies, and patient care nationwide. Called one of the most serious attacks on U.S. health system.
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Change Healthcare processes over 50% of U.S. medical claims. Outage cuts off health providers from systems to transmit claims and get paid, causing cash flow crisis.
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Patients struggling to get prescriptions filled, pay bills. Hospitals unable to discharge some patients.
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Workarounds imperfect; loans offered but cash flow problems persist. Attack exposes vulnerability of centralized U.S. health payment system.
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Prolonged impact threatens stability of health system, especially small and medium hospitals with tight margins. Florida Hospital Association says damage could hit $1 billion.