united health group on thursday Said The company plans to restore Change Healthcare’s systems by mid-March, providing a potential solution to the ransomware attack that disrupted critical operations across the U.S. healthcare system.
According to the company, on February 21, the company discovered that a cyber attacker had infiltrated part of Change Healthcare’s information technology network. filingCooperation with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
UnitedHealth isolated and disconnected affected systems “immediately upon detecting” the threat, but in doing so, it disrupted pharmacy services, payment platforms and medical billing processes, according to the filing.
UnitedHealth said: Thursday release It said e-prescriptions are “currently fully operational” and payment submissions and claim submissions are currently available. The company said it expects electronic payment functionality to be restored by March 15th and will begin testing connectivity between its insurance claims network and software on March 18th.
The company said in a release that there is “no indication” that other UnitedHealth systems were compromised in this attack.
“We are committed to providing relief to those affected by this malicious attack on America’s health care system,” UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Whitty said in a release. Stated.
On Friday, UnitedHealth announced a temporary financial assistance program to help health care providers facing cash flow issues in the aftermath of the attacks. The company announced Thursday that it will offer “additional funding solutions” for providers, meaning “advance funding each week.”
UnitedHealth recognizes that the program does not meet the needs of all healthcare providers, so it says it will not “provide funding to those who have exhausted all available connectivity options and to providers during the period.” It said it is expanding the program to include “those who work with payers who choose not to prepay.” Change Healthcare systems remain down for a period of time,” according to the release.
UnitedHealth said it does not need to repay the advance until claims flow returns to normal.
In late February, Change Healthcare announced that the ransomware group Blackcat was behind the cybersecurity attack. Blackcat, also known as Noberus and his ALPHV, is said to be stealing sensitive data from institutions and threatening to release it unless a ransom is paid. Released in DecemberFrom the U.S. Department of Justice.
Ransomware attacks are particularly dangerous in the healthcare sector because they can cause immediate damage to patient safety when life-saving systems lose power. UnitedHealth did not say in its release what type of data was compromised in the attack, nor did it confirm whether the company paid a ransom to get its systems back online.