Summary of Cyberattack Leaves Patients Facing the Choice to Pay – or Wait for Their Prescriptions

TLDR:

• A cyberattack on Change Healthcare, a unit of UnitedHealth, has disrupted insurance processing at pharmacies across the US.
• Patients are facing the choice to pay out of pocket for critical care or wait for their prescriptions due to the cyberattack.

Full Article:

A recent cyberattack on Change Healthcare, a unit of UnitedHealth, has caused disruptions in insurance processing at pharmacies across the United States. Patients like Mara Furlich have been forced to make a tough decision: either pay out of pocket for critical care or wait for their prescriptions to be processed. Furlich, a 32-year-old social worker from Detroit, had to pay $1,600 out of pocket for a crucial Paxlovid prescription to alleviate her worsening Covid-19 symptoms when pharmacies were unable to bill her insurer.

The cyberattack has affected multiple states, including big university health systems in Indiana and California. The disruption has also impacted military pharmacies like the Naval Hospital at Camp Pendleton, leading to cancellations and delays in patient prescriptions. The incident has raised concerns among US cybersecurity officials, who suspect nation-state associated hackers are behind the breach of Change Healthcare’s computer systems.

The recovery process from the hack is expected to be arduous and lengthy, with investigations taking weeks to provide a final attestation letter to impacted clients. Healthcare providers and contractors have been advised to stay vigilant, and affected organizations are encouraged to consider disconnecting from Change Healthcare’s network until the issue is fully resolved.

Overall, the cyberattack on Change Healthcare has significant implications for patient care, emphasizing the need for robust cybersecurity measures in the healthcare sector to prevent such disruptions in the future.