In February, one of the largest clearinghouses of medical information–patients and providers alike–fell victim to a cyber attack. Change Healthcare, a division of Optum under the UnitedHealth Group umbrella, is responsible for an incredible amount of data that changes hands throughout the medical industry, including payments between providers, patients, and insurance.
At this point, Change Healthcare is still out of commission, leading to a tremendous slowdown in the transmission and payment of claims. The UnitedHealth Ground has been issuing updates on the progress they’ve made to lessen the problems associated with the attack:
“UnitedHealth Group continues to make progress in mitigating the impact to consumers and care providers of the unprecedented cyberattack on the U.S. health system and the Change Healthcare services, while continuing to expand financial assistance to affected providers.”
Optum, UnitedHealthcare, and UnitedHealth Group (UHG) were largely left alone according to UHG and have taken steps to keep the damage to a minimum. However, the American Medical Association says it is up to each provider to decide to stick with Optum:
“Organizations should evaluate their risk of using Optum, UnitedHealthcare and UHG systems. While UHG asserts that any system that is currently live and available is safe to use, organizations should evaluate their risks and make determinations if connections to Change Healthcare are appropriate at this time.
“As part of your risk evaluation, healthcare organizations should consider the impacts of severing connectivity to Optum, which includes but is not limited to loss of prior procedure authorizations, electronic prescribing and other patient care functions. Ultimately, your organization should make its own determination on whether or not to block Optum specifically while considering all the risks and consequences of doing so.”
As a provider, you (and your patients) have undoubtedly felt this breach’s effects. MBA Medical, however, has a solution. As a leading third-party medical biller, coder, and RCM company, we can help you manage payments and the exchange of information while Change Healthcare–or any other clearinghouse–continues to shore up its defenses.
How MBA Medical Can Help
We partner with multiple billing software providers and clearinghouses, so we aren’t reliant on Change Healthcare to send electronic claims or receive electronic remittance and payment from insurers. For our own clients who were previously sending claims through Change, we have seamlessly transitioned them to a different system and they are fully operational despite the continued Change Healthcare outage.
The scope of Change Healthcare’s services and the length of their downtime impacts nearly all medical practices. The more services practices utilize Change Healthcare for the larger the impact. While claim payments have been slowed dramatically by the outage, those claims are still payable. MBA can help get your payments back on track.
More About Change Healthcare
According to their website, Change Healthcare “provides industry-leading analytics, expansive data, and unparalleled connection and data transfer between providers, payers, and consumers to help improve workflows, increase administrative and financial efficiencies, and improve clinical decisions.”
More About UnitedHealth Group
The UnitedHealth Group is a multinational healthcare company headquartered in the United States. It is one of the largest healthcare corporations globally, providing a variety of health-related products and services. UnitedHealth Group operates through two main platforms: UnitedHealthcare, which offers health insurance services, and Optum, which provides healthcare services and technology solutions. Change Healthcare is part of Optum.
The company’s offerings span health insurance plans, pharmacy benefit management, healthcare delivery, data analytics, and consulting services. UnitedHealth Group plays a significant role in the healthcare industry, serving millions of individuals and organizations worldwide.