The University of Toledo (Ohio) board of trustees will lend the University of Toledo Physicians $7.5 million to cover cash-flow issues brought on by the Change Healthcare cyberattack, The Blade reported April 1.
The six-month, short-term bridge loan will have a 1.25% interest rate and the secured overnight financing rate.
“The cyberattack prevented hospitals and health systems across the country — including University of Toledo Physicians Group — from collecting claims revenue," UT spokesman Tyrel Linkhorn said, according to The Blade. "While some larger organizations may have used multiple claims clearinghouses, Change Healthcare was UToledo Physicians Group's only clearinghouse."
UnitedHealth Group's Change Healthcare reported a cybersecurity issue on Feb. 21 that has disrupted operations for healthcare organizations nationwide.
Medical groups have been facing billing and cash flow problems since the hack, putting smaller practices at risk of closing, the Medical Group Management Association said in a Feb. 28 letter to HHS.
"This incident should concern all of us in healthcare, as well as our patients," Brian Gantwerker, MD, a spine surgeon and president of the Craniospinal Center of Los Angeles, told Becker's. "Now, if we can just get the people that seemingly have the discretion to make the decisions that place these unconcerned, and from the looks of it, incompetent entities in charge to pay attention, we would be getting somewhere."