Two independent medical practices in Minnesota hoped once to extend operations, but spent last year to fight to recover from the cyber attack on a vast payment system of the United Group.
Odom Health & Wellness, a sports medicine and rehabilitation attire, and the Dillman Clinic & Lab, a family medicine practice, are among the thousands of medical offices that experienced sudden financial disorders last year. The Cyberatack Against changes Healthcare, a United Division, paralyzed a large part of the country's health care payment system for months.
Modify billions of dollars in medical practices short of money but which began to demand reimbursements.
Dillman and Odom continue United in the American district court of Minneapolis, accusing the negligence company linked to the cyber attack and claiming to have maintained excessive expenses due to the fallout from the attack.
In addition, Odom and Dillman have affirmed in legal files that the company's insurance branch, Unitedhealthcare, in turn denied allegations to cover patient care for being submitted late.
The legislators considered chaos caused by cyber attacks following the apparently insatiable desire of United to buy companies such as change, alongside the practices of doctors and pharmacy companies. The generalized disturbance was a reminder of the depth of the plain subsidiaries of United.
“This is still another sign that the rapid consolidation of large health care companies has harmed, rather than American patients and American doctors,” said Senator Ron Wyden, Oregon Democrat, about financial training that cyber attack had placed on practices.
Last month, the American Medical Association sent a letter to Optum, the United Headhealth Division which has changes, claiming that it was afraid that many practices are in a hurry to reimburse loans despite continuous financial difficulties of the cyber attack.
Since March 2024, the change had granted $ 9 billion in interest to more than 10,000 medical suppliers, including $ 569,680 to Odom and $ 157,600 in Dillman.
A year later, around 5.5 billion dollars had been reimbursed, said United in court documents. About 3,500 practices, including Odom, Dillman and six other complainants in the prosecution, had made no reimbursement from April 1. Several other practices and patients have also filed prosecution against United.
In a press release, the change said that it “continues to work actively with providers to identify flexible reimbursement plans according to the individual circumstances of providers and their practices”.
He added: “We also worked with Unitedhealthcare to ensure that the complaints they receive are examined in the light of the challenges of which the providers have been met, in particular the derogation of the requirements of timely time for the plans under its control.”
The change has compared its efforts to recover loans to those of the centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. After the cyber attack, the CMS provided accelerated payments to the practices to cover the media invoices delayed by the cyber attack. He has Since garnished Medicare claims to recover the funds.
In legal files, United cited data showing that only a small percentage of the allegations of health care of Odom and Dillman was rejected to be “premature”, although these refusals increased after the cyber attack.
Calling applicants' requests a “collective shakedown”, UNITEDHEALTH also asked that the District Court rejects its application for the reimbursement of loans, arguing that they were not allowed to intervene in its activities with thousands of other loans.
An injunction, United, could be used by other medical practices to “have billions of dollars hostage”.
Dre Megan Dillman, specializing in pediatrics and internal medicine, said that she had opened her practice in Lakeville, Minn., In 2022 to “bring joy to medicine”. She said that she had spent much more time with patients than the Spartan 15 minutes that business health operations have increasingly demanded their doctor.
“I have patients where I do not think they would be here today if we do not exist,” said Dr. Dillman, citing cancers she had detected who had been missed by more precipitated doctors.
Her husband, Richard Dillman, directs the commercial side of the practice. He described the requests for reimbursement from United “a kick in his teeth”.
“I prefer to take the qualification course of special back to back – for back to back – that never again,” said Dillman, an old green beret.
At the time of the cyber attack, the exchange of exchange for exchange for exchange for exchange for 45% of the country's health care transactions, or around 2 billions of dollars per year. The company had to withdraw its offline services in February 2024 to contain damage caused by the attack, interrupting a large part of the cash flows in the health system and freeing chaos.
The associated violation of private information was the the biggest reported In the United States, health history. In January, United increase The reported number of people whose personal data had been exposed to 190 million from 100 million.
The Office of Civil Rights of the United States Ministry of Health and Social Services has opened its doors an investigation In the attack on ransomware in March 2024. An agency spokesperson said that he “generally does not comment on current or open surveys”. Some health care companies have been fined for violations involving data on patients.
Company managers have said that the hackers infiltrated the change systems by obtaining compromised connection identification information and using a portal for entry which did not require multifactorial authentication.
UNITED officials confirmed that the company had paid a ransom of $ 22 million with Russian cybercriminals who claimed responsibility. Society reported In a January profits report that the cyber attack then cost $ 3.1 billion.
Health care reimbursements did not start to channel the change relatively freely before June 2024, although United declared that some of its systems had taken more time to return online and that some were still not 100%.
During the Congress hearings in May 2024, the senators criticized Andrew Witty, managing director of United, for the way the company had managed the cyber attack and the disturbance which it caused thousands of providers. Witty testified that the company had “no intention to request a refund until the providers determine that their business is back to normal”.
The loan conditions stipulated that the modification would not require reimbursement until “after complaints, processing and / or payments processing services and affected payments during the service disturbance period are treated.”
The sense of “being treated” is now at the Center for Judicial Affairs.
The change began to request the reimbursement of Dillman and Odom through what medical practices characterized in court documents as an increasingly aggressive succession of letters. The two practices declared to change that they were unable to reimburse or the reimbursement plan offers accepted. The change then demanded in January a full reimbursement and threatened to retain future reimbursements for patient health care.
“It is disappointing but not surprising that Unitedhealth Group has decided to prioritize its net profit on the well-being of families and small businesses,” said Wyden, who directed the Senate audience on cyber attack.
The AMA called the company to negotiate “a realistic individualized reimbursement plan” with each practice.
Dr. Catherine Mazzola, which manages a practice of pediatric neurology and neurosurgery in New Jersey, is among many others who have also fought with United on loans.
“Optum, in my opinion, acts as a loan shark trying to collect quickly,” said Dr. Mazzola, who is not an applicant in the proceedings against United, about the division that has the change.
Dr. Mazzola received a loan of $ 535,000, and she said that she had later said to the change that she could not reimburse her. She proposed a calendar but received no response. So she started paying $ 10,000 a month in January. But without any warning, she said, United began to garnish his reimbursements.
A spokesperson for United has disputed his account, saying that the total reimbursement request would not occur without warning but after months of effort to negotiate a plan.
Today, Dr. Odom employs around 110 people, many of whom provide rehabilitation to the elderly in assisted living establishments. If his practice was to reimburse the loan of change immediately, he said his trial, he should dismiss at least 22 staff members. Dr. Odom said it could encourage channels to live assisted to abandon its services and cause more financial damage.
“We are faced with a difficult battle as a small business,” said Dr. Meghan Klein, president of Odom. Addressing the Gulf between the finances of her business and United, she said: “What is little impact for them is a huge impact for us. These are many lives of people who worry us.”
The Dillman clinic, which derives approximately a quarter of its revenues from the United Assurance reimbursements, would face bankruptcy if it was forced to fully reimburse its loan, according to its trial.
After having exploited their house, their cars and their retirement accounts against their practice, the Dillmans would lose all their assets because of bankruptcy, including their house, they said.
“Part of the objective of being here is to control my schedule,” said Dr. Dillman. But cyber attacks focused on the couple's time, leaving little for their 6 -year -old daughter.
“I have seen her for an hour for an hour,” said Dr. Dillman. “I miss his childhood.”
