Change Healthcare Cyberattack
Posted in Press Releases
To our patients,
We want to ensure you are aware of recent developments regarding the Change Healthcare cyberattack and its impact on our practice, as well as reassure you about our efforts to avoid any disruptions to your treatment.
Who is Change Healthcare and what happened?
On February 21st, Change Healthcare, one of the nation’s largest insurance claim processing clearinghouses, experienced a severe cyberattack that resulted in a nationwide system shutdown.
The attack, which targeted a critical IT platform connecting practices and pharmacies with insurance providers, has significantly impacted claims submissions for both medical and pharmacy benefits, payment remittance, insurance eligibility checks, and prior authorizations. Approximately 80% of independent oncology practices, including OSG, are connected to Change Healthcare through their practice management system. Change Healthcare is owned by Optum, a division of UnitedHealth Group, and it processes 15 billion health care transactions annually, touching 1 in every 3 patient records in the US.
How is this impacting our practice?
As a result of this cyberattack, we have not been able to electronically submit claims to insurance companies for payment for over two weeks.
What does this mean for you?
At this point, the majority of the impacts of this situation have been handled behind the scenes and our goal is to keep it that way. There have been some challenges and extra work to get prescriptions to pharmacies, verify benefits, and determine out of pocket amounts. We appreciate your kind patience when things have taken longer than usual.
What are we doing to get through this?
Our staff is working tirelessly to manually verify insurance coverage, facilitate payment posting, and submit medical claims through alternative methods to minimize delays.
We are fortunate to have strong partnerships with key technology, banking, and industry associations, all of whom are rallying to support us during this unprecedented situation. We are also engaging with our local representatives and urging them to advocate on behalf of practices like ours at the national level.
Looking ahead:
While this situation is understandably concerning, please rest assured that we have a plan in place to get us through this without interruption to your care. We have full confidence in our team, our partnerships, and our ability to collectively navigate this.
We are optimistic that the majority of our claims processing will return to automated status in the coming weeks. We have already made significant progress in processing a large volume of pending claims this week and are actively working on transitioning to a new clearinghouse to resume electronic processing for commercial claims.
As we continue to manage this situation, we are committed to keeping you informed. Our primary focus remains on providing you with high-quality care, without disruptions or delays.
Sincerely
Mel Davies
Chief Financial & Information Officer