Redundancy in healthcare payment processing is more important than ever, as demonstrated by the recent cyberattack that brought down the Change Healthcare clearinghouse.

However, what is a clearinghouse exactly? It functions as a go-between for insurance companies and healthcare providers, facilitating the exchange of data and, eventually, securing payment for the services performed. Think of it as the link that guarantees physicians are compensated for the services they render.

The recent attack had a profound effect. It not only interfered with over 900,000 physicians’ medical claims processing, but it also caused billing issues for more than 67,000 pharmacies nationwide. 

One in three US patient records were at risk due to the disruption, which affected the whole healthcare system since Change Healthcare processes an astounding 15 billion transactions a year.

What then is the remedy? It’s crucial to provide redundancy by connecting with several clearinghouses. Healthcare systems can protect against monetary losses and payment delays by distributing the risk across multiple platforms and making sure they’re up-to-date, scalable, and resilient to outages.

As a safety net in case of emergency, Orbit Healthcare, for instance, provides connections to multiple reliable clearinghouses, including Change Healthcare, Availity, Waystar, and Experian Health.

Being ready is imperative in this day and age of cyberattacks. The financial mayhem that erupts when clearinghouses fail is prevented by redundant healthcare payment processing systems.