Smaller rivals to UnitedHealth's tech unit Change Healthcare say they are signing longer-term contracts with hospitals and other customers who had temporarily switched from the company after February's cyberattack shut down the unit's services. The new contracts landed by Waystar and privately held Availity and Inovalon show a shift to healthcare practices signing deals with multiple service providers instead of relying on a single vendor, in what may be the first sign of needed change in an industry. Health tech experts said the move to more than one vendor is long overdue, but was hastened by the hack. Change makes up only 1% of revenue at healthcare giant UnitedHealth but processes about 50% of medical claims in the U.S. for around 900,000 physicians, 33,000 pharmacies, 5,500 hospitals and 600 laboratories. About 1 in 3 U.S. patient records are processed in some way at Change.
Enterprise architects have struggled to deliver business benefits in the digital era. By enlisting them to take part in strategic digital initiatives in ways that play to their strengths, CIOs can remedy that.
Healthcare is the most frequent target for ransomware attacks: In 2023, the FBI says, 249 of them targeted health institutions — the most of any sector. Stakeholders are worried that the federal government's response is underpowered, underfunded, and overly focused on protecting hospitals — even as the Change Healthcare hack earlier this year proved that weaknesses are widespread. HHS's "current approach to healthcare cybersecurity — self-regulation and voluntary best practices — is woefully inadequate and has left the healthcare system vulnerable to criminals and foreign government hackers," Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), chair of the Senate Finance Committee, wrote in a recent letter to the agency.
Lehigh Valley Health Network has agreed to a settlement over a cyberattack where nude patient photos were leaked on the dark web. LVHN will pay $65 million total to affected patients, the agreement says. The agreement settles a class action lawsuit filed in March 2023 by a cancer patient from Dunmore, Lackawanna County on behalf of her and other patients affected by the situation. Affected patients have been placed into relief tiers, depending on what information was stolen and leaked.
Increasingly, are reaching for A.I. chatbots to explain new symptoms, weigh treatment options and vet their doctors' conclusions. About one in six adults — and about a quarter of adults younger than 30 — use chatbots to find medical advice and information at least once a month, according to a recent survey from KFF, a nonprofit health policy research organization. Supporters hope A.I. will empower patients by giving them more comprehensive medical explanations than a simple Google search might.
Amid heated discussions on how artificial intelligence should be regulated and who should be involved in healthcare AI governance, FDA Commissioner Robert Califf says that health systems need to take a leading role. "There's a lot of good reason for health systems to be concerned that if they don’t step up, they’re going to end up holding the bag on liability when these algorithms go wrong," Califf says.