Latest Cyberattack Is Yet Another Wake-Up Call to Protect the Practice of Independent Medicine

COMMENTARY

With the rapid increase in drug and labor costs, more administrative burdens from insurance companies, and growing demand for health care, it’s more challenging — yet even more important — for doctors to continue serving their communities. Nevertheless, independent practices in towns across the country have continued to step up to the plate for patients. 

Though independent physicians deliver high-quality care at a lower per-patient cost in comparison to larger health care settings, like hospitals, 2024 began with a troubling start. After years of consecutive payment cuts, physicians again were forced to swallow a 3.37% reduction in reimbursement from Medicare, far below the 3% increase that other providers of Medicare received to help them stay afloat amid inflation and rising costs. 

Although Congress later enacted a partial fix to the latest cut, years of insufficient reimbursement and temporary measures have created a complex balancing act for providers, particularly for independent, community-based practices like mine. Once again, independent physician practices have found themselves in an untenable position, tasked with completing more paperwork, grappling with widespread burnout, and attempting to keep pace with inflation and the ever-growing costs of providing care — all with less reimbursement for their services. 

As if that weren’t enough, independent physicians have now been battered by the fallout from the recent ransomware attack on Change Healthcare, the country’s largest billing and payment clearinghouse. The ransomware attack brought insurance reimbursements to a halt, forcing desperate providers to borrow money to cover expenses or furlough staff to make ends meet. In fact, according to the American Medical Association, 62% of respondents said they are still using personal funds to cover practice expenses and 34% are not able to make payroll. Some doctors have even liquidated their personal retirement plans just to be able to pay their staff and keep patient appointments.

As independent physician practices continue to reel from these cumulative financial challenges, all signs point to a bigger issue: We must better protect our independent physicians and the patients who rely on them. 

Too many independent practices today are operating on thin margins and are extremely vulnerable to threats, whether it be delayed billing due to a cyberattack or yet another slash to Medicare payments. These financial challenges are making it harder and harder for independent physicians to keep their doors open, forcing many to leave the health care workforce altogether. The share of practices owned by physicians has dropped nearly 30% from the early 1980s to 2022 — a devastating reality for patients who can no longer seek convenient care from their trusted, community-based doctors. 

To prevent independent medicine from disappearing altogether, Congress must enact policies that bolster independent physicians. Thankfully, the recent congressional hearings around the Change Healthcare ransomware attack have shined a spotlight on the unique threats facing independent practices. It’s critical that policymakers work with health care providers to support community-based practices, particularly those in rural and underserved communities, and prevent future ransomware attacks. 

Still, to ensure that private practices can remain independent long term, Congress must also set the Medicare physician payment system straight — now. While this year’s partial fix is certainly a step in the right direction, lawmakers must pass comprehensive reform to ensure that physician reimbursement from Medicare keeps pace with the rising costs of inflation. Doing so would allow independent physicians to remain financially viable and invest in their practices to ensure that patients can access high-quality, community-based care for years to come. 

In the face of hardship, whether the COVID-19 pandemic or the latest ransomware threats from organized criminals, doctors have not wavered from their commitment to our nation’s patients.

Now it’s time that we stand up for them and enact comprehensive reforms that provide America’s physicians — and the patients who rely on them — with a stable base to grow and thrive.

Eric Hansen, DO, is a primary care doctor in San Bernardino, California. He can be reached on LinkedIn.