Home Health & Hospice Week

Insurer reports some positive earnings news.

If you’re wondering whether it’s worth it to invest in cybersecurity, one look at UnitedHealthcare’s situation may give you the answer.

Recap: Payments for many providers ground to a halt after a ransomware attack on the insurer’s Change Healthcare payment platform in February. UnitedHealth has been rumored to have paid a $22 million ransom to facilitate getting its operations back on track.

However, a second hacking group now appears to be demanding another ransom, according to press reports. If the insurer fails to pay, the cybercriminals are threatening to sell the company’s stolen data to the highest bidder.

Meanwhile, UnitedHealth is not winning points with politicians. It did not send a representative to an April 16 House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on the attack.

At the hearing, lawmakers laid into UnitedHealth for poor cybersecurity preparedness and focused on how anticompetitive practices may have contributed to the disaster. They also issued warnings about future incidents.

“As our health care system becomes more consolidated, the impacts of cyberattacks — if successful — may be more widespread,” stressed Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) in the hearing.

Lawmakers may yet get answers to their questions about the attack, however.