Meanwhile, health care providers used the meeting to voice payment concerns directly to Witty and other health insurers and alert them to backlogs, including difficulties in obtaining emergency funding from Medicaid plans, officials said.
The White House has also labeled the issue a cybersecurity crisis, and healthcare industry leaders have warned about the February 21st attack on Change Healthcare. — A subsidiary of UnitedHealth and the nation's largest medical claims processing company — This is the most significant incident of its kind in the history of the US health care system. Hackers stole data about patients, encrypted company files, and demanded money to unlock them. Change Healthcare has since been taken offline. The payments to tens of thousands of hospitals, physician groups, and other organizations that rely on the company as an intermediary would be devastating. Government leaders and industry experts said they remain concerned about sensitive patient data stolen by hackers and the potential for other breaches.
Ann Neuberger, the vice president's national security adviser, helped lead Tuesday's meeting, two officials said. Officials said government officials attended the meeting in person, while industry participants participated remotely.
The White House confirmed that officials met with UnitedHealth and other industry leaders, but declined further comment. HHS and UnitedHealth did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Biden administration has appealed to UnitedHealth to accelerate the spread of infections. Emergency funding and increased transparency for affected providers. Healthcare groups are warning they are running out of cash to finance operations as the payments crisis enters its third week.
“We call on UnitedHealth Group to take responsibility to ensure that no healthcare provider is harmed by the funding challenges resulting from this cyberattack on Change Healthcare,” Becerra and the Acting Secretary of Labor said. Julie Hsu wrote in an open letter to health care leaders on Sunday. Mr. Becerra and Mr. Hsu urged other private health plans to make emergency payments and also called for support from other parts of the U.S. health care system, including other medical claims processing agencies.
“While we believe payers have a unique responsibility and opportunity to address the challenges at hand, we urge healthcare providers to step up and take action,” officials said. is writing.
Biden officials have no legal authority to force UnitedHealth or other groups to make additional payments.
UnitedHealth last week announced a schedule to bring its network back online, saying it planned to begin testing and rebuilding its claims network on March 18, but health leaders said they expect disruption to continue for several more weeks. He said he was prepared.
UnitedHealth offers an emergency loan program through its Optum division. But providers say the offer is insufficient to meet their needs, and government officials are pressuring the cash-rich company to secure additional funding. UnitedHealth reported revenue of about $372 billion last year.
Authorities are working to launch emergency funding for affected providers. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced Saturday that it will provide emergency funding for doctors caught up in the Change Healthcare hack.
Lawmakers and the health care industry have criticized federal officials for not providing more aid to doctors and suppliers, saying smaller organizations are in greater need of urgent aid than deep-pocketed hospitals.
