Ransomware Attack at a US Community Hospital
The claim was for loss of income and costs. The ransomware attack had a significant impact on the hospital’s operations; most seriously, the loss of all medical imaging services.
Action:
Our work needed to be undertaken with urgency and at a particularly fraught time for the policyholder. Alongside our review of the supporting documentation for the wide-ranging costs claimed, we sought to understand the unique requirements of the restoration process (due to the specialist equipment used by the Insured) and the issues encountered. We also liaised closely – as we often do – with insurers’ incident response team in establishing the reasonableness and necessity of the costs.
To assess the loss of income, we analysed the Insured’s financial data and established affected revenue streams – our specialist accounting expertise to the fore. We also identified categories of expenditure that reduced as a result of the attack. In addition, we took account of patients having been transferred to another hospital in the policyholder’s group, so mitigating the overall loss sustained.
Result:
We recommended an approach to settlement that took account of the policy terms and the specific circumstances faced by the Insured in restoring their IT environment / operations due to the nature of their business. As for the loss of income, we presented and obtained the Insured’s agreement to our calculation.
It was good news all round. The insurers were able to achieve a prompt and fair resolution of a complex claim, while the policyholder and their broker were delighted as to how the claim was dealt with and the outcome. The value of the policy shone through to them.
