Health Systems Are Still Missing Payments Because of the Change Healthcare Cyberattack

It’s been six months since Change Healthcare suffered its cyberattack, which many regard as the most consequential cybersecurity event in the U.S. healthcare system’s history.

The effects of the catastrophe are still being felt — some health systems are still missing payments for patient encounters from February, according to a new report from Strata Decision Technology.

The report analyzed data from more than 1,600 hospitals to understand the lingering impact of the cyberattack. It found that by the end of the second quarter, most health systems had largely closed gaps in missing payments. 

This was especially true among the country’s largest health systems, even though they suffered the biggest revenue losses in the months immediately following the event. At the end of the first quarter of 2024, health systems with $1 billion to $2.5 billion in operating expenses had an estimated payment shortfall of 18.2% for services provided in February. Health systems with more than $2.5 billion in operating expenses had a payment shortfall of 20.3%.

The nation’s small health systems are feeling the most prolonged effects of the Change Healthcare attack — the report showed that they are still missing about 3-5% of expected net revenue for patient encounters from February. 

The smallest health systems — those with annual operating expenses under $500 million — have a shortfall of 11.1% in estimated missing payments compared to total payments for Medicare inpatient services provided in February, according to the report.

As for mid-size health systems — those with annual operating expenses between $500 million to $1 billion — they had a shortfall of just 1.5% in Medicare inpatient payments for services provided in February. 

Health systems with $1 billion to $2.5 billion in operating expenses had a shortfall of 4.3% for Medicare inpatient payments for February, and health systems with more than $2.5 billion in operating expenses had a shortfall of 5.5%. 

The numbers looked similar when looking at data on inpatient services for commercially insured patients, the report stated.

“Health systems nationwide felt the repercussions of missing and delayed payments throughout the first half of 2024, but many larger systems were able to narrow those gaps by the end of the second quarter,” Steve Wasson, chief data and intelligence officer at Strata Decision Technology, said in a statement. “Even with the help of bridge payments and accelerated payments offered by some payers, smaller health systems continue to feel the impacts as they have fewer resources to absorb these types of disruptions.”

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