The Maryland Department of Health has dispensed more than 500 loans to healthcare providers affected by the Change Healthcare cyberattack, WYPR reported.
The state health department has a dedicated email account where providers can reach out if they're facing disruptions because of the hack, according to the March 25 story. "If it's advanced payments to help make payroll, if it's technical assistance in changing their clearinghouse, we want to help," Sara Barra, the agency's chief of staff for behavioral health, told the news outlet.
Health systems and physician practices across the country have been unable to process claims since the Feb. 21 ransomware attack on the UnitedHealth Group subsidiary. Change Healthcare, CMS and states have all been trying to keep them afloat with loans or advanced payments.
"All Optum has done, who owns Change Healthcare, is offer a really bad 10-day loan payment program as their solution," Gene Ransome, CEO of the Maryland State Medical Society, told WYPR. "I don't understand why more people aren't screaming and yelling. This is a major risk to our whole healthcare system."
Change told Becker's it has distributed nearly $3 billion in financial assistance to affected providers. The company also reported March 22 that it is restoring IT systems that would allow over $14 billion in claims to start processing.