Cybersecurity news for hospitals and health systems

Hackers claimed to have sold the data of Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago patients for $3.4 million following a recent cyberattack, the Record reported March 7.

Change Healthcare, a technology company part of UnitedHealth Group's Optum, expects to have its key system functionalities restored by mid-March following a "cybersecurity incident" on Feb. 21 that obstructed its healthcare connectivity and operations nationwide.

Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente and Walnut Creek, Calif.-based John Muir Health are among the nationwide healthcare providers impacted by the Change Healthcare cyberattacks, the San Francisco Chronicle reported March 6.

The cyberattack on Change Healthcare that has caused disruptions across a wide swath of the industry has entered its third week. But why do these IT outages last so long?

Lawsuits have started rolling in against UnitedHealth Group's Change Healthcare over the cyberattack that has crippled hospitals, physician practices and pharmacies around the country.

Renton, Wash.-based Providence has resumed normal operations after the Feb. 21 Change Healthcare cyberattack. 

Dallas-based Tenet conducts "table-top exercises" to simulate cybersecurity incidents in order to practice responses to those events.  

HHS said March 5 it would help accelerate payments to hospitals affected by the Change Healthcare cyberattack and institute other workarounds for providers.

The cybercriminal organization responsible for hacking UnitedHealth Group's Change Healthcare has received a multimillion dollar payment in bitcoins, according to Reuters.

Lurie Children's of Chicago has reactivated its Epic electronic health record platform along with other key systems, but its MyChart patient portal remains down following a cyberattack on the hospital in late January.