CMS offers financial relief to providers affected by Change Healthcare outage
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is assisting providers that are struggling financially during what the AMA calls the “most significant and consequential incident of its kind against the U.S. health-care system in history,"
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is moving quickly to assist providers and facilities that are struggling financially after the cyberattack on Change Healthcare late last month.
“HHS recognizes the impact this attack has had on health-care operations across the country,” the agency said in a statement on Tuesday. “HHS’s first priority is to help coordinate efforts to avoid disruptions to care throughout the health-care system.”
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said it would:
- Assist providers with switching clearinghouses;
- Issue guidance to Medicare Advantage and Part D providers that encourages them to relax prior authorization requirements; and
- Recommend the same for Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program providers.
CMS also is considering provider requests for accelerated payments similar to those issued during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We understand that many payers are making funds available while billing systems are offline, and providers should take advantage of those opportunities,” it said. “However, CMS recognizes that hospitals may face significant cash-flow problems from the unusual circumstances impacting hospitals’ operations. During outages arising from this event, facilities may submit accelerated payment requests to their respective servicing Medicare Administrative Contractors for individual consideration.”
The American Hospital Association said the government’s initial response is inadequate to meet the ongoing challenges.
“We cannot say this more clearly — the Change Healthcare cyberattack is the most significant and consequential incident of its kind against the U.S. health-care system in history,” AHA President Rick Pollack said. “For nearly two weeks, this attack has made it harder for hospitals to provide patient care, fill prescriptions, submit insurance claims and receive payment for the essential health-care services they provide.
“The magnitude of this moment deserves the same level of urgency and leadership our government has deployed to any national event of this scale before it. The measures announced today do not do that and are not an adequate whole of government response.”
Dr. Jesse Ehrenfeld, president of the American Medical Association, agreed: “Many physician practices operate on thin margins, and we are especially concerned about the impact on small and/or rural practices, as well as those that care for the underserved,” he said. “The AMA urges federal officials to go above and beyond what has been put in place and include financial assistance, such as advanced payments for physicians.”
Related: Aetna reports in-network provider payment disruptions, due to Change Healthcare hack
HHS promised to continue working with Change Healthcare and affected parties until the situation is resolved. “This incident is a reminder of the interconnectedness of the domestic health-care ecosystem and of the urgency of strengthening cybersecurity resiliency across the ecosystem,” it said.