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Change Healthcare Wake-Up Call: Is Sector Too Codependent?

Video Interview in Healthcare InfoSecurity

Denise Anderson and Errol Weiss of Health-ISAC Discuss Critical Cyber Issues

 

Marianne Kolbasuk McGee (HealthInfoSec) • March 27, 2024

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Access the video interview here:

https://www.healthcareinfosecurity.com/change-healthcare-wake-up-call-sector-too-codependent-a-24719

 

The Change Healthcare attack – the most disruptive cyber incident to ever hit the U.S. healthcare ecosystem – spotlights the risks that come from relying on a handful of major suppliers, said top leaders of the Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center.

“The real wake-up call was just the realization of how interconnected, how interdependent the healthcare sector is on a small number of service providers,” said Errol Weiss, chief security officer of Health-ISAC.

“Not only do we see a lot of patient inconveniences where people couldn’t get prescriptions filled or procedures were being canceled because of the lack of insurance information – hospitals were also dealing with an impact to cash flow because they couldn’t file those insurance claims,” Weiss said in an video interview with Information Security Media Group (see: Nursing Home Declares Bankruptcy, Blames Recent Cyberattacks).

“Now they’re suddenly cash-strapped and having financial issues as well. That level of interconnectedness and dependencies was something that took a lot of people by surprise, and we’ll certainly be looking at that going forward.”

In previous times of crisis, said Denise Anderson, CEO of Health-ISAC, the healthcare sector realized how reliant it is on too few major suppliers. Those times includes non-cyber related circumstances, such as in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017 and when the coronavirus pandemic disrupted supply chains, she said.

But the Change Healthcare incident revealed the degree of reliance on major IT vendors – and the domino effect that can happen – at a scope not seen before.

Listen to the entire video interview here:

https://www.healthcareinfosecurity.com/change-healthcare-wake-up-call-sector-too-codependent-a-24719

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