Becker's ASC Review

61 HEALTHCARE NEWS Centene CEO wants to leave Missouri after Medicaid expansion decision By Lauren Jensik C entene CEO Michael Neidorff threatened to leave Missouri after the state decided to withdraw plans for Medicaid expan- sion, according to NBC affiliate KSDK. "As the largest provider of Medicaid in the United States and a For- tune 42 company I have to ask myself, 'Why am I in this state?'" Mr. Neidorff told Health Payer Specialist. "Wait till [Gov. Mike Parson] hears we're moving out. He'll probably call me then." Headquartered in St. Louis County's downtown Clayton area, Cen- tene is Missouri's largest employer. "Without a revenue source of funding authority from the General As- sembly, we are unable to proceed with the expansion at this time," Mr. Parson told KSDK. "I have a good relationship with Mr. Neidorff and am grateful for Centene's investments in Missouri. Centene is a strong, reputable company with great employees, and we are proud that they call Mis- souri home." Medicaid expansion would provide 275,000 Missouri residents with coverage, and lawmakers said the decision to drop the initiative likely would result in a lawsuit. Centene is working on a second headquarters in Charlotte, N.C. n 7 physicians, CaroMont resolve noncompete clause dispute By Laura Dyrda S even physicians who sued Gastonia, N.C.-based CaroMont Health in 2019 over a noncompete clause in their employment contracts voluntarily dismissed their suit, according to a May 18 report in the Gaston Gazette. The physicians left CaroMont's South Point Family Practice in 2019 to join Tryon Medical Partners, a physician practice launched the year before by almost 100 physicians formerly em- ployed by Charlotte, N.C.-based Atrium Health. CaroMont requested the seven physicians pay $1.8 million to be released from their noncompete clauses, and the physicians sued to avoid pay- ment. The physicians argued their noncompete clauses only prevented them from joining a com- peting health system within 20 miles of CaroMont, and Tryon is not a hospital or health system. The two groups reached a settlement to resolve the dispute, according to a CaroMont statement. n Meet the ransomware gang behind 235 attacks on US hospitals: 7 things to know By Jackie Drees R esponsible for one-third of the 203 million U.S. ransomware attacks in 2020, the Ryuk ransomware gang is the most prolific in the world and has targeted at least 235 hospitals, according to a June 10 Wall Street Journal report. Seven things to know: 1. With ties to Russian government security services and named aer its signature soware, Ryuk has hit at least 235 general hospitals and inpatient psychiatric facilities in addition to dozens of other healthcare facilities in the U.S. since 2018. 2. Ryuk ransomware collected at least $100 million in paid ransom last year, according to Bitcoin analysis firm Chainalysis. Some of the criminal group's most recent healthcare targets include King of Prussia, Pa.-based Uni- versal Health Services, which lost $67 million from Ryuk's malware attack last September, and DCH Health System in late 2019. 3. While some ransomware gangs avoid hospitals over fear of disrupting operations that could lead to patient deaths, Ryuk doesn't care, ransomware recovery firm Coverware CEO Bill Siegel told the WSJ. "Other groups you can at least have a conversation. You can tell them, 'We're a hospital, someone's going to die.' Ryuk won't even reply to that email." 4. Ryuk uses disposable webmail accounts to negotiate with victims and speaks with a "single, consistent voice, terse and to the point, and offering no hint of a personality," consultants who have negotiated with the hackers told the WSJ. 5. Tim Cook, head of threat intelligence at Guidepoint Security, told the publication that he has dealt with Ryuk in 15 ransom- ware cases, four of them being hospitals. Ev- ery conversation he has had with the hackers hasn't been more than one or two sentences. 6. Ryuk also uses victims' financial docu- ments during some negotiations, Mr. Cook said, adding that, in certain instances, he tried telling the hackers that his clients couldn't afford to pay the ransom, to which Ryuk "respond[ed] back with financial documents in their email and sa[id], 'Yes you can.'" 7. Ryuk counts on its attacks to wreak havoc, said Alex Holden, a security analyst who monitors the Eastern European under- ground. Last October, he said he saw a Ryuk organizer discussing plans online to attack 400 hospitals in the U.S. and saying they "expect panic." n

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