Coop Viability through Change Healthcare Crisis

On 2/23/24 a major national healthcare insurance claims clearinghouse called Change Healthcare experienced a cyber attack and froze their services in response. This means that providers who work with Change Healthcare are unable to submit insurance claims or receive payment for their services. As of last week, Change Healthcare "expect(s) to begin testing and reestablish connectivity to (their) claims network and software on March 18, restoring service through that week." Even if their services are restored within this timeline, claim submission and payments will likely be delayed even further due to a near month-long freeze. 

As you can imagine, this is an extremely disruptive and precarity-inducing incident for small businesses like Catalyst. As a start-up coop still reaching full financial stability, we don't have the kind of economic reserves that can support us through periods of not having any income. It is important to us to continue providing therapy services to our clients without interruption, but have been left scrambling to figure out financial options to cover things like loans, rent and payroll. 

While there are some work-arounds when it comes to alternative ways of submitting claims, they are expensive, highly labor-intensive to temporarily transition to, and don't cover all the insurances we need to be submitting claims to. Change Healthcare has failed to offer any supports to remedy the issues this is causing for providers.

We are asking for funds to keep our coop operational during this time. Funds donated will go towards the following expenses for the next month: health insurance for our team, rent and other operating expenses such as electronic health record subscriptions, as well as payment due to our business credit line. This does not include salaries, which our clinicians have generously agreed to furlough for the next 5 weeks. 

We appreciate anything you can contribute to our cause, even if that's simply sharing this ask with your networks. Furthermore, if you or anyone in your network might be available to extend a bridge loan to help us through this month, please email us at [email protected]. Thank you for your continued solidarity in the fight to make mental healthcare accessible across Massachusetts.