“Once we became aware of the outside threat, in the interest of protecting our partners and patients, we took immediate action to disconnect our systems to prevent further impact.” “The disruption is expected to last at least through the day.”
Change Healthcare
According to the incident tracker, the incident occurred early Tuesday morning on the East Coast of the United States.
The specifics of the cybersecurity problem were not released. Most of Change Healthcare’s login sites were unreachable. When checked, the majority of Change Healthcare’s login pages were either unreachable or offline.
The Huron Daily Tribune, a Michigan local newspaper, reports that pharmacies are experiencing disruptions as a result of the Change Healthcare assault.
Scheurer Health, a Michigan-based healthcare provider, stated on Facebook that it is now unable to process medications through consumers’ insurance due to a “nationwide outage from the largest prescription processor in North America,” which refers to Change Healthcare.
Change Healthcare is among the largest healthcare technology companies in the United States. Change Healthcare manages patient payments throughout the US healthcare system. The IT company boasts on its website that it conducts 15 billion healthcare transactions annually and that one-third of U.S. patient records are “touched.”
In 2022, UnitedHealth Group finalized its $7.8 billion merger of U.S. healthcare services major Optum and Change Healthcare, giving Optum significant access to patient records for tens of millions of Americans.
Optum provides technology and data to insurers and healthcare providers.
UnitedHealth Group owns both Optum and Change Healthcare. When reached out to Optum, a spokesman declined to comment. Change Healthcare and UnitedHealth Group’s spokesmen did not reply to requests for comment.
