Health
Cyberattack on UnitedHealth Leaves Medical Providers in Debt
Two independent medical practices in Minnesota once hoped to expand operations but have spent the past year struggling to recover from the cyberattack on a vast UnitedHealth Group payment system.
Odom Health & Wellness, a sports medicine and rehabilitation outfit, and the Dillman Clinic & Lab, a family medicine practice, are among the thousands of medical offices that experienced sudden financial turmoil last year. The cyberattack against Change Healthcare, a division of United, paralyzed much of the nation’s health-care payment system for months.
Change lent billions of dollars to medical practices that were short on cash but has begun demanding repayments.
Dillman and Odom are suing United in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, accusing the corporation of negligence related to the cyberattack and claiming they sustained excessive expenses because of the attack’s fallout.
In addition, Odom and Dillman asserted in court filings that the company’s insurance arm, UnitedHealthcare, has in turn been denying claims to cover patient care for being submitted late.
Lawmakers viewed the chaos caused by the cyberattack as a result of United’s seemingly insatiable desire to buy up companies like Change, alongside doctors’ practices and pharmacy businesses. The widespread disruption was a reminder of how deeply United’s sprawling subsidiaries had become embedded in the nation’s health care system.
“This is yet another sign that the rapid consolidation of major health care companies has harmed, rather than helped, American patients and doctors,” Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, said of the financial bind that the cyberattack had placed on practices.
Last month, the American Medical Association sent a letter to Optum, the UnitedHealth division that owns Change, saying that it was concerned that many practices were being pressured to repay loans despite continued financial difficulties from the cyberattack.
Since March 2024, Change had provided $9 billion in interest-free loans to more than 10,000 medical providers, including $569,680 to Odom and $157,600 to Dillman.
A year later, roughly $5.5 billion had been repaid, United said in court filings. About 3,500 practices, including Odom, Dillman and six other plaintiffs in the lawsuits, had made no repayments as of April 1. Several other practices and patients have also filed suits against United.
In a statement, Change said it would “continue to actively work with providers to identify flexible repayment plans based on the individual circumstances of providers and their practices.”
It added, “We have also worked with UnitedHealthcare to ensure the claims it receives are reviewed in light of the challenges providers experienced, including waiving timely filing requirements for the plans under its control.”
Change compared its efforts to recoup loans to those by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. After the cyberattack, C.M.S. provided accelerated payments to practices to cover Medicare billings delayed by the cyberattack. It has since garnished Medicare claims to recoup the funds.
In court filings, United cited data showing that only a small percentage of Odom’s and Dillman’s health care claims were rejected for being “untimely,” although those denials increased after the cyberattack.
Calling the plaintiffs’ motions a “collective shakedown,” UnitedHealth has also requested that the district court reject their request for an injunction against repayment of loans, arguing that they did not have the right to interfere in its business with thousands of other loan recipients.
An injunction, United argued, could be used by other medical practices to “hold hostage billions of dollars.”
Dr. Megan Dillman, who specializes in pediatrics and internal medicine, said she had opened her Lakeville, Minn., practice in 2022 to “bring the joy back to medicine.” She said she spent far more time with patients than the spartan 15 minutes that corporate health care operations have increasingly required of their doctors.
“I have some patients where I don’t think they would be here today if we didn’t exist,” Dr. Dillman said, citing cancers she had detected that had been missed by more hurried doctors.
Her husband, Richard Dillman, runs the business side of the practice. He called United’s repayment demands “a kick in the teeth.”
“I’d rather go through the Special Forces qualification course back to back — to back to back — than ever do this again,” said Mr. Dillman, a former Green Beret.
At the time of the cyberattack, Change’s medical-billing clearinghouse processed about 45 percent of the nation’s health care transactions, or about $2 trillion annually. The company had to take its services offline in February 2024 to contain damage from the attack, halting much of the health care system’s cash flow and unleashing chaos.
The associated breach of private information was the largest reported in U.S. health-care history. In January, United increased the reported number of people whose personal data had been exposed to 190 million from 100 million.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’s Office of Civil Rights opened an investigation into the ransomware attack in March 2024. An agency spokesperson stated that it “does not generally comment on current or open investigations.” Some health care companies have been fined for breaches involving patient data.
Company officials have said that the hackers infiltrated Change’s systems by obtaining compromised login credentials and using a portal for entry that did not require multifactor authentication.
United officials confirmed that the company had paid a $22 million ransom to the Russian cybercriminals who claimed responsibility. The corporation reported in a January earnings report that the cyberattack had by then cost $3.1 billion.
Health care reimbursements didn’t begin to channel relatively freely through Change until June 2024, although United said that some of its systems had taken longer to come back online and that a few were still not at 100 percent.
At congressional hearings in May 2024, senators slammed Andrew Witty, United’s chief executive, for how the company had handled the cyberattack and the disruption it caused thousands of providers. Mr. Witty testified that the company had “no intention of asking for repayment until providers determine their business is back to normal.”
The loan terms stipulated that Change would not demand repayment until “after claims processing and/or payment processing services and payments impacted during the service disruption period are being processed.”
The meaning of “being processed” is now at the center of the court cases.
Change began seeking repayment from Dillman and Odom through what the medical practices characterized in court filings as a succession of increasingly aggressive letters. Both practices told Change they were unable to repay and neither accepted repayment plan offers. Change then in January demanded full repayment and threatened to withhold future reimbursements for patients’ health care.
“It’s disappointing but not surprising that UnitedHealth Group has decided to prioritize its bottom line over the well-being of families and small businesses,” said Mr. Wyden, who led the Senate hearing on the cyberattack.
The A.M.A. called upon the company to negotiate “an individualized, realistic repayment plan” with each practice.
Dr. Catherine Mazzola, who runs a pediatric neurology and neurosurgery practice in New Jersey, is among many others who have also battled with United over the loans.
“Optum, in my opinion, is acting like a loan shark trying to rapidly collect,” Dr. Mazzola, who is not a plaintiff in the lawsuits against United, said of the division that owns Change.
Dr. Mazzola received a $535,000 loan, and she said she had later told Change she could not repay it. She proposed a schedule but received no response. So she began paying $10,000 a month in January. But without any warning, she said, United began garnishing her reimbursements.
A United spokesman disputed her account, saying demand for full repayment would not occur without warning but after months of efforts to negotiate a plan.
Today, Dr. Odom employs about 110 people, many of whom provide rehab to older people in assisted-living facilities. If his practice had to repay the Change loan immediately, his lawsuit asserted, he would have to lay off at least 22 staff members. Dr. Odom said that could prompt assisted-living chains to drop his services and cause more financial harm.
“We face an uphill battle as such a small company,” said Dr. Meghan Klein, Odom’s president. Speaking to the gulf between her company’s finances and United’s, she said: “What is little impact to them is huge impact to us. These are a lot of people’s lives that we’re worried about.”
The Dillman Clinic, which derives about one-quarter of its income from United insurance reimbursements, would face bankruptcy if forced to fully repay its loan, according to its lawsuit.
Having leveraged their house, their cars and their retirement accounts against their practice, the Dillmans would lose all of their assets to bankruptcy, including their home, they said.
“Part of the goal of being here is to have control over my schedule,” Dr. Dillman said. But the cyberattack-driven chaos has consumed the couple’s time, leaving little for their 6-year-old daughter.
“There are days I see her for an hour,” Dr. Dillman said. “I’m missing her childhood.”
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A single 10-minute workout may trigger blood changes that help fight colon cancer.
That’s according to new research from scientists at Newcastle University, who found that exercise quickly changes the blood in ways that affect colon cancer cells in the lab.
In the study, the U.K. researchers exposed colon cancer cells to human blood serum collected immediately after exercise, finding that the cells repaired DNA damage faster and showed gene activity patterns linked to slower growth.
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The blood samples came from 30 adults who had just completed a short, high-intensity cycling workout that lasted about 10 to 12 minutes, according to a press release.
Even a 10-minute burst of intense exercise may send protective signals through the blood that affect colon cancer cells, researchers say. (iStock)
Samuel T. Orange, an associate professor at Newcastle University and one of the study’s authors, spoke with Fox News Digital about the findings.
“Our findings show that exercise rapidly triggers molecular changes in the bloodstream that can act directly on colon cancer cells, reshaping gene activity and supporting DNA damage repair,” he said.
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The results suggest that even brief activity can make a difference. “Every movement matters. Exercise doesn’t need to last hours or happen in a gym,” Orange added.
The research suggests that exercise quickly triggers changes in the blood that affect colon cancer cells and helps support DNA repair. (iStock)
One of the most surprising findings, according to the researcher, was how strong the biological response was after even a single workout.
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“Exercise altered the activity of more than 1,000 genes in colon cancer cells,” he shared.
Even brief bouts of activity can make a difference, the researcher said. (iStock)
The study findings suggest that the effect is driven by exercise-triggered molecules released into the bloodstream, sometimes referred to as “exerkines,” which act like chemical messengers and send signals throughout the body.
“Each time you exercise, you trigger biological signals that support health and resilience to diseases such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease,” Orange said.
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The researchers cautioned that the study was conducted using cancer cells grown in the laboratory, not in patients.
The findings are based on experiments using colon cancer cells grown in the lab, not studies conducted in people, the researchers noted. (iStock)
The study involved 30 healthy male and female volunteers between the ages of 50 and 78. Their blood samples were used to carry exercise-triggered signals to cancer cells grown in the lab.
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“These findings now need to be replicated in people with cancer,” Orange said. “We also need to better understand the longer-term effects of repeated exercise signals over time.”
Despite the limitations, the researcher said the findings strengthen the case for exercise as an important part of colon cancer prevention.
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“Each time you move your body and get a little breathless, you’re contributing to better health and may help influence biological processes linked to bowel cancer,” he added.
Welcome back! For Day 4 of the challenge, let’s do a short and fun activity based around a concept called cognitive reserve.
Decades of research show that people who have more years of education, more cognitively demanding jobs or more mentally stimulating hobbies all tend to have a reduced risk of cognitive impairment as they get older.
Experts think this is partly thanks to cognitive reserve: Basically, the more brain power you’ve built up over the years, the more you can stand to lose before you experience impairment. Researchers still don’t agree on how to measure cognitive reserve, but one theory is that better connections between different brain regions corresponds with more cognitive reserve.
To build up these connections, you need to stimulate your brain, said Dr. Joel Salinas, a neurologist at NYU Langone Health and the founder and chief medical officer of the telehealth platform Isaac Health. To do that, try an activity that is “challenging enough that it requires some effort but not so challenging that you don’t want to do it anymore,” he said.
Speaking a second language has been shown to be good for cognition, as has playing a musical instrument, visiting a museum and doing handicrafts like knitting or quilting. Reading is considered a mentally stimulating hobby, and experts say you’ll get an even bigger benefit if you join a book club to make it social. Listen to a podcast to learn something new, or, better yet, attend a lecture in person at a local college or community center, said Dr. Zaldy Tan, the director of the Memory and Healthy Aging Program at Cedars-Sinai. That adds a social component, plus the extra challenge of having to navigate your way there, he said.
A few studies have found that playing board games like chess can be good for your brain; the same goes for doing crossword puzzles. It’s possible that other types of puzzles, like those you find in brain teaser books or from New York Times Games, can also offer a cognitive benefit.
But there’s a catch: To get the best brain workout, the activity should not only be challenging but also new. If you do “Wordle every day, it’s like well, then you’re very, very good at Wordle, and the Wordle part of your brain has grown to be fantastic,” said Dr. Linda Selwa, a clinical professor of neurology at the University of Michigan Medical School. “But the rest of your mind might still need work.”
So play a game you’re not used to playing, Dr. Selwa said. “The novelty seems to be what’s driving brain remodeling and growth.”
Today, we want you to push yourself out of your cognitive comfort zone. Check out an online lecture or visit a museum with your challenge partner. Or try your hand at a new game, below. Share what novel thing you did today in the comments, and I’ll see you tomorrow for Day 5.
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Time-restricted eating has gained popularity in recent years, but a recent study suggests that intermittent fasting — while effective for weight loss — might not live up to the hype in terms of wider benefits.
The small German study found that participants who were placed on two different time-restricted eating schedules lost weight, but experienced no improvement in blood glucose, blood pressure, cholesterol or other key cardiometabolic markers.
The participants included 31 overweight or obese women. One group ate between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. and the other group ate between 1 p.m. and 9 p.m. for a two-week period, while maintaining their typical caloric intake, according to a press release.
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The findings, which were published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, suggest that the widely touted cardiometabolic benefits of intermittent fasting may be a result of eating fewer calories rather than meal timing, the researchers say.
The participants also showed a shift in their circadian rhythms (sleep/wake cycles) when they were placed on the time-restricted eating schedules, but the associated health impacts are not known.
A recent study suggests that intermittent fasting — while effective for weight loss — might not live up to the hype in terms of wider benefits. (iStock)
The study did have some limitations. Some researchers have cast doubt on the significance of the study due to its small size.
“It is severely underpowered to detect any difference, considering how gentle the intervention is,” Dr. Dr. Jason Fung, a Canadian physician, author and researcher, told Fox News Digital. He also noted that the participants were fasting for 16 hours a day instead of the normal 12 to 14 hours.
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Lauren Harris-Pincus, a registered dietitian nutritionist in New Jersey, agreed that the findings could be due to the fact that there was no intentional caloric restriction, and reiterated that the sample size is “quite small.”
“As a registered dietitian, I only recommend time-restricted eating when it is carefully planned and shifted earlier within the day,” Harris-Pincus, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital.
One group in the study ate between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. and the other group ate between 1 p.m. and 9 p.m. for a two-week period, while maintaining their typical caloric intake. (iStock)
“Only one in 10 Americans consumes the recommended number of fruits and veggies, and 93% miss the mark on fiber goals. Restricting an eating window necessitates more careful meal planning to ensure adequate intake of macro- and micronutrients.”
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The expert also cautioned that skipping breakfast to enable a later eating window may result in lower intake of the “nutrients of concern” in the American diet, including calcium, potassium, fiber and vitamin D.
Looking ahead, the researchers said more studies are needed to explore the effects of time-restricted eating over longer time periods. It also remains to be seen how the combination of caloric restriction and time-restricted eating may affect outcomes. Future research could also explore how different populations may respond.
“I only recommend time-restricted eating when it is carefully planned and shifted earlier within the day.”
Dr. Daryl Gioffre, a gut health specialist and celebrity nutritionist in New York, noted that the study didn’t account for critical factors like chronic stress, sleep quality, medications, hormone status and baseline metabolic health.
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“All of these can significantly blunt fat loss and cardiometabolic improvements,” Gioffre, who also was not involved in the research, told Fox News Digital.
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“Cortisol, the body’s primary stress hormone, is naturally highest in the morning, which overlaps with one of the fasting windows studied,” he went on. “If stress is elevated, cortisol alone can block fat burning, disrupt blood sugar regulation, and mask cardiovascular improvements, regardless of calorie intake or eating window.”
Growing research shows intermittent fasting — when done correctly and sustained over time — can improve insulin regulation, reduce inflammation, support fat loss and contribute to better cardiovascular health, an expert said. (iStock)
Gioffre did agree, however, that growing research shows intermittent fasting — when done correctly and sustained over time — can improve insulin regulation, reduce inflammation, support fat loss and contribute to better cardiovascular health.
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“These are outcomes that simply cannot be captured in a short, stress-blind study like this,” he added.
Fox News Digital reached out to the researchers for comment.
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