On Friday, U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper joined a bicameral group of colleagues to call on the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to introduce a plan to help health care systems increase their data security protections and prevent cyberattacks.
John Hickenlooper. Image courtesy of his Twitter feed
Hickenlooper’s call to action follows a major cyberattack in late February that crippled Change Healthcare, the largest health care payment system in the country. The Change Healthcare attack forced the company to shut down many of its systems, hurting patients and preventing healthcare providers from getting insurance approval for medical procedures and prescriptions. Senator Hickenlooper’s office is working to support Colorado hospitals and healthcare providers negatively impacted by the attack.
“The attack against a UnitedHealth Group subsidiary, Change Healthcare, has had a severe and wide reaching effect across the nation. Americans have faced challenges getting their prescriptions filled, and many hospitals, physician’s offices, and pharmacies disconnected their systems from key entities that process billions of healthcare-related transactions annually,” the lawmakers wrote.
“The disruption is not limited to delays in filling prescriptions. We are hearing from health care sector businesses each day as they voice a growing concern that this cyberattack already has, or will very soon, create significant cash flow disruptions to their operations,” they continued.
In their letter, Senator Hickenlooper and his colleagues requested information regarding efforts undertaken by CISA and HHS to protect Americans’ health data and health care sector businesses from this cyberattack and the ongoing threat to the health care sector.
Full text of the letter is available HERE.
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