Skip to main content
Test Double company logo
Services
Services Overview
Holistic software investment consulting
Software Delivery
Accelerate quality software development
Product Management
Launch modern product orgs
Legacy Modernization
Renovate legacy software systems
DevOps
Scale infrastructure smoothly
Upgrade Rails
Update Rails versions seamlessly
Technical Recruitment
Build tech & product teams
Technical Assessments
Uncover root causes & improvements
Case Studies
Solutions
Accelerate Quality Software
Software Delivery, DevOps, & Product Delivery
Maximize Software Investments
Product Performance, Product Scaling, & Technical Assessments
Future-Proof Innovative Software
Legacy Modernization, Product Transformation, Upgrade Rails, Technical Recruitment
About
About
What's a test double?
Approach
Meeting you where you are
Founder's Story
The origin of our mission
Culture
Culture & Careers
Double Agents decoded
Great Causes
Great code for great causes
EDI
Equity, diversity & inclusion
Insights
All Insights
Hot takes and tips for all things software
Leadership
Bold opinions and insights for tech leaders
Developer
Essential coding tutorials and tools
Product Manager
Practical advice for real-world challenges
Say Hello
Test Double logo
Menu
Services
BackGrid of dots icon
Services Overview
Holistic software investment consulting
Software Delivery
Accelerate quality software development
Product Management
Launch modern product orgs
Legacy Modernization
Renovate legacy software systems
Cycle icon
DevOps
Scale infrastructure smoothly
Upgrade Rails
Update Rails versions seamlessly
Technical Recruitment
Build tech & product teams
Technical Assessments
Uncover root causes & improvements
Case Studies
Solutions
Solutions
Accelerate Quality Software
Software Delivery, DevOps, & Product Delivery
Maximize Software Investments
Product Performance, Product Scaling, & Technical Assessments
Future-Proof Innovative Software
Legacy Modernization, Product Transformation, Upgrade Rails, Technical Recruitment
About
About
About
What's a test double?
Approach
Meeting you where you are
Founder's Story
The origin of our mission
Culture
Culture
Culture & Careers
Double Agents decoded
Great Causes
Great code for great causes
EDI
Equity, diversity & inclusion
Insights
Insights
All Insights
Hot takes and tips for all things software
Leadership
Bold opinions and insights for tech leaders
Developer
Essential coding tutorials and tools
Product Manager
Practical advice for real-world challenges
Say hello
Leadership
Leadership
Leadership
Accelerate quality software

Seizing opportunity in crisis: How a ransomware attack led to business innovation

When a ransomware attack threatened our client in healthcare, it could have led to panic. Instead, it sparked innovation. Here’s how we turned the crisis into a catalyst for long-term success.
Chris Caragianis
Kate McGinty
|
August 28, 2024
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

When a crisis strikes, it’s easy to see only the chaos. But what if that chaos could actually be your biggest opportunity? 

When a ransomware attack brought down a major healthcare payment processor, sending shockwaves across the U.S., our client in the medical space faced a critical business continuity crisis. 

But instead of panicking or merely patching up the wounds, they chose a different path. 

They saw the cliff they were forced off of, and instead of scrambling to survive, they decided to climb. 

Together, we used the crisis as a catalyst to innovate, strengthen their processes, and position themselves better for the future. After all, when you’re pushed to the edge, the only way to go is up.

Here’s how we turned a crisis (and the fact that we were working outside of our normal process) into an opportunity to pioneer new ways of doing typical things. 

When a single point of failure cripples the system 

The crisis began February 21, when a ransomware attack against Change Healthcare disrupted healthcare facilities across the U.S. 

Change Healthcare, one of the largest health payment processing companies in the world, handles 15 billion medical claims annually—nearly 40% of all claims. This company plays a critical role in verifying the eligibility and coverage of health insurance benefits.

The cyberattack knocked Change Healthcare offline for several weeks, halting its operations and significantly disrupting the U.S. healthcare system.

For one of our clients, this created an immediate business continuity crisis, as it relied on Change Healthcare to verify coverage and eligibility for its partner providers. 

The uncertainty of whether the old processes would ever come back online underscored a need for multiple ways to verify coverage and eligibility.

We teamed up with the client to quickly implement a short-term solution, buying them time to decide on a long-term, sustainable solution.

3 paths in a crisis: Flail, deny, or improve

In normal times, we often glimpse a distant peak of a better way of working (or a superior technical solution) on the horizon—but find it tough to justify the cost of crossing the valley between what's "good enough" and that distant peak.

So when there's high pressure to deliver, the impulse to innovate often takes a back seat. You're more focused on producing than on asking questions about growth and improvement.

Crisis does us the favor of hurling us off a cliff, leaving us with nowhere to go but up.

In that moment of free fall, we have three choices:

  1. Flail: Reach for the nearest solution to quiet the panic, regardless of where it might lead later.
  2. Deny: Act as if things are normal, running the risk of failing to meet the moment.
  3. Improve: Strategize a path that leads you to where you wished you were before the crisis.

Crisis is like found money: Responding to one demands foundational work because the world has changed, and so must the assumptions your business is built on.

But now, you have the chance to direct that work in any direction you choose. The work you must do to survive in this new world can also propel you to where you want to be.

From crisis to opportunity: Leveraging challenges for growth

Rather than advising our client to wait for Change Healthcare to resolve issues or hiring hundreds of data entry personnel to manage a backlog, we recognized a pivotal opportunity. 

This crisis prompted us to integrate with additional clearinghouses, enhancing the client's diversity and security for the future. These changes led to significant architectural updates within our microservice cloud, improving our capacity to meet evolving business needs.

With initial fixes in place, we chose not to revert to previous methods. We got to work on a more sustainable solution. 

This situation pointed the way toward a comprehensive redesign of how our client manages its eligibility coverage verification, a foundational change that was nowhere on the horizon before the crisis occurred.

Test Double embarked on a thoughtful design process to address inefficiencies in our standard service provisioning and integration patterns—issues that had previously restricted our flexibility.

We redefined our team’s approach to services and products and set a new strategic direction to:

  • Modernize outdated business processes, mitigating the risk of future crises.
  • Increase our agility to respond to changing business demands.
  • Equip ourselves with tools to leverage existing capabilities and innovate new products.

Ultimately, the client didn’t just return to its pre-crisis operations—it did so with enhanced capabilities. 

It has diversified the verification of coverage and eligibility with multiple providers, not just one, ensuring greater stability and business continuity. 

By automating processes that were previously manual, we also fundamentally transformed how the business collects revenue, positioning them to thrive in a post-crisis landscape.

This crisis could have gone another way. It could have led to panic and short-sighted decision making, a "back-to-normal at all costs" mentality or even a fatal blow to the business itself.

Instead, when the dust settled, our client was back to business—but even better than before. 

A strategic partner in your inbox

Stay ahead with expert advice on software development, product management, and solving tough challenges—delivered monthly.

Subscribe now

Related Insights

No items found.

Explore our insights

See all insights
Developers
Developers
Developers
C# and .NET tools and libraries for the modern developer

C# has a reputation for being used in legacy projects and is not often talked about related to startups or other new business ventures. This article aims to break a few of the myths about .NET and C# and discuss how it has evolved to be a great fit for almost any kind of software.

by
Patrick Coakley
Leadership
Leadership
Leadership
Turning observability into a team strength without a big overhaul

By addressing observability pain points one at a time, we built systems and practices that support rapid troubleshooting and collaboration.

by
Gabriel Côté-Carrier
Developers
Developers
Developers
Why I actually enjoy PR reviews (and you should, too)

PR reviews don't have to be painful. Discover practical, evidence-based approaches that turn code reviews into team-building opportunities while maintaining quality and reducing development friction.

by
Robert Komaromi
Letter art spelling out NEAT

Join the conversation

Technology is a means to an end: answers to very human questions. That’s why we created a community for developers and product managers.

Explore the community
Test Double Executive Leadership Team

Learn about our team

Like what we have to say about building great software and great teams?

Get to know us
Test Double company logo
Improving the way the world builds software.
What we do
Services OverviewSoftware DeliveryProduct ManagementLegacy ModernizationDevOpsUpgrade RailsTechnical RecruitmentTechnical Assessments
Who WE ARE
About UsCulture & CareersGreat CausesEDIOur TeamContact UsNews & AwardsN.E.A.T.
Resources
Case StudiesAll InsightsLeadership InsightsDeveloper InsightsProduct InsightsPairing & Office Hours
NEWSLETTER
Sign up hear about our latest innovations.
Your email has been added!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Standard Ruby badge
614.349.4279hello@testdouble.com
Privacy Policy
© 2020 Test Double. All Rights Reserved.

A strategic partner in your inbox

Stay ahead with expert advice on software development, product management, and solving tough challenges—delivered monthly.

Subscribe now