Connecticut Attorney General William Tong has ordered United Healthcare to take more aggressive action to protect healthcare providers, pharmacies and patients affected by the recent cyberattack on its Change Healthcare subsidiary. He joined a multi-state coalition of 22 attorneys general in calling for the U.S. Attorney General to take action. .
On February 1, Change Healthcare was attacked by the Russian cyber gang ALPHV/Blackcat, which crippled the company’s computer platform for a week and affected tens of thousands of healthcare providers and insurance companies nationwide. .
In Connecticut, the full impact of hacker attacks is difficult to quantify. But the attack appears to have affected data, or access to data, for about 1.7 million people enrolled in HMOs or Indemnity Health Insurance plans, according to state insurance department statistics. Additionally, this outage will affect many if not all of the state’s 9,220 primary care physicians, 2,600 physician assistants, 72 hospitals/primary care facilities, and approximately 600 retail and independent pharmacies. All of which reportedly depend on Change Healthcare’s systems.
Pharmacies across the state and nation report being unable to process claims or receive reimbursement for services, and patients experience delays in obtaining essential prescription medications or being unable to schedule appointments with health care providers. reported.
Change Healthcare operates the nation’s largest healthcare clearinghouse and was acquired by United Health Group in 2022.
AG Tong said in a statement:
“The impact of the Change Healthcare cyberattack has been nothing short of devastating for healthcare providers in Connecticut and across the nation. The response from Change and UnitedHealth Group has been inadequate. I am calling on attorneys general across the country to We are calling on Change and UnitedHealth Group to take immediate and aggressive action to protect critical healthcare infrastructure and support affected healthcare providers.”
In a letter to United Health Group, the 22 AGs called for immediate and enhanced financial support for all affected health care providers and pharmacies.
To ensure that financial assistance is a win-win for everyone using the system, and most importantly, to identify which data sets were compromised and to help mitigate future identity theft, we are communicating with healthcare providers. It’s about letting everyone know what procedures are required for the patient.
United Health Group recently reported sales of $99.8 billion, an increase of nearly $8 billion from the same period last year.
The company admitted that it paid a ransom to the hackers to alleviate the ongoing issue.
Multiple media reports suggest the ransom was approximately $22 million in Bitcoin, but United Health Group has not confirmed that figure.
United Health Group said in a recent statement that it could take several months to fully resolve the issue.
Putnam-based Day Kimball Healthcare is one of the small health care providers affected in the state.
Day Kimball CEO Kyle Kramer said the impact of the attack was significant.
“The level of business interruption that occurred as a result of the cyberattack on Change Healthcare had a profound impact,” Kramer said. “While large city institutions may have been able to ride the wave of cash flow interruptions, smaller organizations like Day Kimball do not have the financial resources to cushion such long interruptions. We worked quickly with other payers to establish a prepayment process, but it was certainly a little confusing.”
And Greg McKenna, president of a small network of independent pharmacies based in Middlesex and New London counties, said, “If this were not an example of such tragic behavior that exists in all PBMs, this Maybe I could find some humor in the situation.” Pharmacy Benefits Manager) and each insurance company owner. ”
He said that Optum (United Health Care’s PBM), Express Scripts (Cigna’s PBM), and Caremark (Aetna/CVS’ PBM) “not only provide mechanisms to improve the quality and delivery of care, but also monitor It is to be provided.” Costs that actually reduce costs, rather than increase them. This blatant disregard for the economic impact on customers is abhorrent. PBMs knew which people and which prescriptions would be affected. They see all the claims. ”
A United Health Group spokesperson said the company is aware of the letter sent by the attorney general.
A spokesperson for United Health Group said, “Since our founding, our priority has been patient access to care and providing resources and support to the individuals, providers and customers involved.” said. “We continue to provide financial assistance to healthcare providers in need and encourage them to contact us.”
