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UnitedHealth Group said Monday that it’s paid out more than $2 billion to help health-care providers who have been affected by the cyberattack on subsidiary Change Healthcare. “We continue to make significant progress in restoring the services impacted by this cyberattack,” UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Witty said in a press release. “We know this has been an enormous challenge for health care providers and we encourage any in need to contact us.” (Capoot, 3/18)

Insurers have modified claims and payment operations amid the Change Healthcare network outage, but providers contend the moves are not enough to address their financial challenges. The aftershock from a February cyberattack on the UnitedHealth Group division continues to pulse throughout the healthcare system even as Change Healthcare makes progress restoring its systems. (Tepper and Berryman, 3/18)

Nurses at UCSF, St. Mary’s Medical Center and Saint Francis Memorial Hospital are pressing UCSF — which is slated to complete a $100 million acquisition of the two community hospitals by June — for detailed answers to their questions about how UCSF will maintain critical patient services and preserve staffing once the deal is complete. ... Dozens of nurses rallied outside San Francisco City Hall on Monday morning and shared their concerns with supervisors during a Rules Committee hearing about the acquisition. (Ho, 3/18)

As more physicians leave their private practices behind, tension is growing over their choice of potential partners — particularly private equity, which is increasingly drawing federal and state scrutiny. Fewer physicians — only 46.7% in 2022 compared with 60.1% in 2012 — work in practices wholly owned by doctors amid struggles to manage reimbursement cuts, regulation and rising expenses. As a result, more physicians are joining health systems, private equity-backed management services organizations and insurers. (Kacik, 3/18)

As rural hospitals continue to struggle financially, a new type of hospital is slowly taking root, especially in the Southeast. Rural emergency hospitals receive more than $3 million in federal funding a year and higher Medicare reimbursements in exchange for closing all inpatient beds and providing 24/7 emergency care. While that makes it easier for a hospital to keep its doors open, experts say it doesn’t solve all of the challenges facing rural health care. People might have to travel further for treatments for illnesses that require inpatient stays, like pneumonia or COVID-19. (Bose, 3/16)