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Minnesota-headquartered UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) announced this week that patient data has potentially been compromised "based on preliminary findings from the ongoing investigation and review of the data involved in the malicious criminal cyberattack on Change Healthcare."
UnitedHealth previously reported paying an undisclosed ransom amount to cyber criminals, BlackCat, which targeted one of its subsidiaries, Change Healthcare, in February.
According to an April 22 release from the company, "Based on initial targeted data sampling to date, the company has found files containing protected health information or personally identifiable information, which could cover a substantial proportion of people in America.
"To date, the company has not seen evidence of exfiltration of materials such as doctors’ charts or full medical histories among the data," UnitedHealth reported.
The company also said in the update that it is making progress to restore Change Healthcare’s products and services, although it is likely several months away "before enough information will be available to identify and notify impacted customers and individuals."
“We know this attack has caused concern and been disruptive for consumers and providers and we are committed to doing everything possible to help and provide support to anyone who may need it,” said UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty in a statement.
On April 23, UnitedHealth also shared an updated Claims Payer List for Legacy Emdeon customers on Optum Intelligent Electronic Data Interchange (iEDI), per its website.
So far, the company has reported advancing more than $6 billion to providers in need, "and we will continue to financially support providers through full system recovery," officials stated.
For information about the temporary funding process, call 1-877-702-3253.
A dedicated call center established "to offer free credit monitoring and identity theft protections for two years to anyone impacted," can also be reached at 1-866-262-5342.
For more details on this ransomware attack, visit changecybersupport.com.
The American Medical Association weighs in on affects of the Change Healthcare cyberattack against UnitedHealth Group
Earlier this month, AMA released key findings from a survey conducted among physician practices from March 26 to April 3, following the Change Healthcare cyberattack against UnitedHealth Group.
“The disruption caused by this cyberattack is causing tremendous financial strain,” said AMA President Dr. Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, in an April 10 statement. “These survey data show, in stark terms, that practices will close because of this incident, and patients will lose access to their physicians. The one-two punch of compounding Medicare cuts and inability to process claims as a result of this attack is devastating to physician practices that are already struggling to keep their doors open.”
Highlights included economic and patient-care impacts:
- 36% of 1,400 respondents reported suspension in claim payment
- 32% were unable to submit claims
- 22% were unable to verify eligibility for benefits
- Practices of 10 physicians or less appear to be particularly hard hit
- Additionally, 80% of those surveyed reported lost revenue from unpaid claims
- 85% have had to commit additional staff time and resources to complete revenue cycle tasks
- 51% have lost revenue from the inability to charge patient co-pays or remaining obligations
- 55% of respondents had to use personal funds to cover practice expenses
- 44% were unable to purchase supplies
- 31% were unable to make payroll. However, only 15% of practices have reduced hours
- 12% of respondents have received assistance from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; 0.7% from state Medicaid plans; 25% from UnitedHealth Group/Optum; and 4.5% from other health plans.
“As information becomes available, the AMA urges UHG to keep patients and physicians informed about how it will implement these announcements, as well as provide the financial assistance and administrative flexibilities needed for practices to stay open and provide patient care,” said Dr. Ehrenfeld in an April 24 statement.