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101 Denver L. Rev. F. 1 (2023-2024)

handle is hein.journals/dnvrlwfv101 and id is 1 raw text is: UNITED WE FALL? THE CHANGE HEALTHCARE CYBERATTACK AND THE DANGER OF A TOO-BIG-TO-FAIL HEALTH INSURER Brendan Williams* Disaster to great business enterprises can never have its effects limited to the men at the top. It spreads throughout, and while it is bad for everybody, it is worst for those farthest down.1 President Theodore Roosevelt INTRODUCTION On February 21, 2024, Change Healthcare (Change)-described as a billing and payment colossus-was the target of an incapacitating cyberattack.2 The hackers were part of a criminal collective known as BlackCat, purportedly based in Russia.3 The group was able to access a portal not protected by basic multifactor authentication.4 Change, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group (UHG), reportedly handles one-third of all patient records in the United States,5 or roughly fifteen billion health care financial transactions a year.6 *A 1997 graduate of the University of Washington School of Law, Brendan Williams is currently the president and CEO of the New Hampshire Health Care Association. The views expressed here are his own. Brendan's work experiences include two-and-a-half frustrating years as a deputy insurance commissioner. In his spare time, he has had over forty law review articles published, primarily on civil rights, consumer protection, and health care issues. He can be reached at olylaw@gmail.com. 1President Theodore Roosevelt, First Annual Message (Dec. 3, 1901), in AM. PRESIDENCY PROJECT, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/first-annual-message-16. 2Reed Abelson & Margot Sanger-Katz, 4 Things You Need to Know About Health Care Cyberattacks, N.Y. TIMES (Apr. 9, 2024), https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/29/health/cyb er-attack-unitedhealth-hospital-patients.html?searchResultPosition=1. 3Jenna McLaughlin, Change Healthcare's Cyberattack Casts a Light into How Cybercriminal Groups Work, NPR (Mar. 13, 2024, 5:55 PM), https://www.npr.org/2024/03/ 13/1238410246/change-healthcares-cyberattack-casts-a-light-into-how-cybercriminal- groups-work. `Daniel Gilbert & Dan Diamond, UnitedHealth CEO Faces Grilling from Congress Over Change Healthcare Hack, WASH. POST (May 1, 2024, 6:30 PM), https://www.washingtonp ost.com/business/2024/05/01/united-health-hack-ceo-congress-change-healthcare/. 5See id. 6See Reed Abelson & Julie Creswell, Cyberattack Paralyzes the Largest U.S. Health Care Payment System, N.Y. TIMES (Mar. 7, 2024), https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/05/health/c yberattack-healthcare-cash.html.

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