The recent cyberattack on Change Healthcare is leading some dental practice owners to realize the need for stronger cybersecurity measures.
Change Healthcare, a revenue cycle management subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group's Optum, was hit with a cyberattack that has been ongoing since Feb. 21. The cyberattack is affecting dental, medical and pharmaceutical companies, including dentists' abilities to process claims, the American Dental Association said Feb. 27.
The federal government has launched an investigation into UnitedHealth Group following the cyberattack, which the American Hospital Association called "most significant cyberattack" on healthcare in U.S. history.
Steven Freeman, DDS, of Elite Smiles in St. Augustine, Fla., recently spoke with Becker's about how the incident has affected his practice and what it means for the dental industry as a whole.
Editor's note: This response was lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: How has the Change Healthcare cyberattack affected your practice operations? What impact do you think this will have on the dental industry?
Dr. Steven Freeman: Yes, we've absolutely been affected by the cyberattack and it's been a complete disaster.
Between our electronic claims not being submitted to insurances and our prescriptions no longer being able to be sent in electronically, it's really created some serious problems in the practice.
We spend so much time putting proper systems and procedures in place in order to run as effectively and as efficiently as possible that these attacks have truly disrupted those systems.
It's required us to find and implement new companies that can be integrated into our systems and procedures, and each one of these new companies cost more than the ones we were previously aligned with. We continue to have hiccups to this day, but things are starting to improve since finding these new companies.
Practice owners need to take this moment to realize that we are not immune from such attacks, even on our own practices. We need to be vigilant in making sure that our cybersecurity is at minimum on par with larger corporations, if not better, because could you imagine your practice being shut down and not being able to see patients because of a cyberattack? It would be a nightmare.