Governor Roy Cooper and Health and Human Services Secretary Kody H. Kinsley announced that all 99 eligible hospitals in North Carolina have joined a state program aimed at relieving medical debt for nearly 2 million residents, with an anticipated impact of approximately $4 billion. The initiative, leveraging the Healthcare Access and Stabilization Program (HASP), will implement policies to alleviate existing debts and prevent future accruals, particularly benefiting low- and middle-income individuals. Participating hospitals will focus on automatic charity care qualification for certain public benefits enrollees and enforce debt forgiveness for Medicaid recipients by mid-2025, along with other measures to curtail aggressive debt collection practices.

North Carolina Hospitals Sign On to Relieve Medical Debt publication

Cyberattacks on healthcare organizations represent a significant risk to patient care and safety, affecting not just individual hospitals but entire communities. Particularly disruptive are ransomware attacks on third-party providers, as these critical vendors support essential hospital functions. The 2023 attack on UnitedHealth Group's Change Healthcare by the Russian ransomware group ALPHV BlackCat exemplifies the extensive impact such attacks can have. Healthcare organizations are advised to enhance their third-party risk management programs through structured strategies, including rigorous risk assessments and incident response planning. Preparedness is crucial as cybercriminals increasingly target these third-party "hubs" to maximize disruption across "spoke" health entities.

Third-Party Cyber Risk Impacts the Health Care Sector the Most. Here’s How to Prepare. | AHA News AHA

Federal officials are advocating for the use of generative AI to enhance security, data analysis, and decision-making processes across various agencies. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are utilizing generative AI for better analysis of vast unstructured data, such as electronic health records and clinical notes, leading to improved health outcomes and treatment personalization. In cybersecurity, generative AI plays a critical role by identifying threats and anomalies, thus enhancing the capabilities of security operations centers and security information management systems. Moreover, generative AI has the potential to reduce human bias in decision-making, aiding the Department of Justice in providing objective insights for fairer sentencing outcomes.

Feds Weigh Generative AI Use in Cybersecurity, Data Analysis govciomedia.com

The blog details recent state actions to protect patients from medical debt. The Biden administration recommended state-level actions to prevent debt accumulation, limit aggressive debt collection practices, and purchase and eliminate existing medical debt. While most states have not passed laws to prevent new medical debt, many have enacted protections for those already in debt, such as capping interest rates, offering reasonable payment plans, and restricting debt reporting to credit agencies. New York enhanced its financial assistance standards, and states like Delaware and New Jersey implemented further regulations to curb debt lawsuits and wage garnishments. Some states have also initiated medical debt forgiveness programs. Despite these measures, there is a continued need for upstream solutions to prevent medical debt from accruing initially.

States Continue to Enact Protections for Patients with Medical Debt The Commonwealth Fund