Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks Applauding HHS For Heeding His Call To Provide Relief To Healthcare Providers Following Ransomware Attack

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor regarding CMS providing hospitals and healthcare providers with relief after a devastating cyberattack against Change Healthcare system.  Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks which can also be viewed here:

Today, I come to the floor with good news: HHS and CMS have heeded my call from last Friday to provide hospitals and providers immediate relief in the aftermath of a devastating cyber-attack asking for ransom. The announcement by CMS today will get cash flowing to providers while our health care system works to get fully back online after this attack. It is an extremely encouraging first step, but the systems of the many providers are complicated and varied so I urge CMS to be persistent and patient as they work to get all the providers on board. And I will work with them – I will work with CMS – to make sure that happens.

Because as you know, across New York and across America, tens of thousands of hospitals, pharmacies, doctors’ offices and other health care providers are still reeling from one of the worst cyberattacks ever launched on our health care system.

The February 21 attack against Change Healthcare system – which is responsible for processing billions of insurance and payment claims annually for health care providers – has thrown providers, including hospitals and pharmacies, into a crisis. For nearly two weeks, they’ve been unable to submit medical claims, and many providers are facing imminent insolvency as cash reserves are drying up.

I was yesterday in Ithaca and met with Rome Health and Cayuga Health, who told me they’re losing hundreds of thousands of dollars every single day, with stacks of claims nearly two feet high that they can’t file.

Americans, meanwhile, are struggling to refill prescriptions, having their care delayed or denied, and are unable to use patient assistance programs they need to stay healthy. Our hospitals, particularly our smaller ones without a cash reserve, could have ended up laying off people and not providing services had CMS not stepped up to the plate, and I’m so glad they did. And probably even worse, our small pharmacies, who have no financial cushion, could have ended up shutting down and would’ve told millions of patients, millions of customers, that they can’t provide the medicines these customers need because they were not getting reimbursed.

So, this was a crisis, and last Friday I called upon HHS and CMS to use their authority to accelerate payments to our hospitals and impacted providers. Hospitals and providers need help from the federal government so they can focus on their main mission as much as possible, which is providing care for their patients. I warned that the longer this crisis persists, the harder it will be for hospitals and other providers to stay open.

Today, I am pleased to see that HHS and CMS are heeding my call. This is a huge shot in the arm and will provide immediate relief to hospitals and providers just like we saw during COVID. CMS has the ability to do this, and during COVID, when providers were also not being reimbursed, they filled the void, and I’m glad they’re doing it again.

What CMS has done is a very encouraging first step, but the work cannot stop until every affected provider has the financial stability to weather this storm.

We need CMS to cut through the red tape to make sure these advanced payments are done right. The systems of the different providers are varied, some are very complicated. We need CMS to be persistent and flexible. And of course, we have asked the FBI and other Justice Department agencies to find out who these awful perpetrators of ransomware were, to put them out of business them and see if they can seek punishment, depending on the country these perpetrators came from.

I thank the Administration for their swift action, and I encourage it to do more. I will work daily with the Administration and providers alike until this situation is resolved.

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