WSHA is continuing to communicate with state agency staff about the impacts of the Change Healthcare cyber-attack and the critical needs of Washington’s hospitals and the patients we serve. While we are focused on current barriers to payment, we are also mindful of downstream impacts. WSHA recommends hospitals and providers document their efforts and challenges obtaining prior authorization or providing inpatient notification to health plans. The Office of the Insurance Commissioner requires carriers to have processes for extenuating circumstances where authorization cannot be provided in advance. WSHA asks members to notify us of any challenges they are facing in getting payment due to prior authorization issues related to disruptions to Change Healthcare.
As a resource to members, WSHA created and will continually update a resource page with links to updates from federal and state agencies and from individual health insurers. (Andrew Busz, andrewb@wsha.org)
