Massachusetts hospitals are losing at least $24 million a day due to the Change Healthcare cyberattack, the state hospital association reported.
The Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association surveyed 12 hospitals and health systems about the ransomware attack that has caused IT outages to the UnitedHealth Group subsidiary, finding it is costing them $24.2 million in reimbursement losses per day.
"We've heard from members that it's truly shocking how quickly this problem cascaded, and that it hits especially hard on top of the ongoing capacity, workforce, and financial challenges hospitals already are facing," said Karen Granoff, the association's senior director of managed care, in a March 11 news release.
Some larger, national health systems could be bleeding over $100 million a day because of the hack, according to reports.
The Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association said it has asked Massachusetts payers to ease prior authorization, waive limits on claims filings, and extend the time to file appeals. Massachusetts Association of Health Plan member payers and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts have indicated that they're willing to work with providers on these issues.
CMS is also speeding up payments to providers and requesting that commercial payers do the same.
Becker's reached out to Change Healthcare for comment.