Change Healthcare issues more information about cyberattack and assistance fund

Editor's note: Since its initial publication, this post has been updated with more information about Optum's payment program and a link to a downloadable document with more information about specific private payers.

Change Healthcare has issued more information about the cyberattack that paused many of its services (e.g., e-prescribing, claims submission, payments, eligibility, prior authorization) and is also offering some temporary assistance funds.

A subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group’s (UHG) Optum unit, Change Healthcare says it is working closely with law enforcement and third-party consultants to investigate the attack, restore systems, and understand the impact on members, patients, and customers. The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) continues to communicate with UHG, monitor the situation, and direct members to resources to help them navigate the outage. The AAFP has also created a landing page with the latest updates on the situation, information on assistance funds, and a survey for members to share their experiences. 

As of March 8, Change Healthcare said it expects key system functionality to be restored and available on the following timelines:

• Payments platform: Electronic payment functionality will be available for connection beginning March 15,
• Medical claims: Testing and reestablishing connectivity to the claims network and software will begin March 18, with service restored through that week.

In the meantime, Optum Financial Services has established a temporary funding assistance support program to help physicians and other health care providers affected by the outage with short-term cash flow needs. Those eligible include United Healthcare medical providers, providers who receive payments from other payers that use Change Healthcare payment processing, and providers who have exhausted all connection options and work with payers that are not advancing funds while Change Healthcare's systems are down.

To access Optum's temporary funding, do the following:

• Determine eligibility by clicking the button on the left-hand side of this page and entering your tax identification number.
• If eligible, review and accept available funding by logging into your Optum Pay account or creating one here. You will need to accept funding each week.

If you find the temporary funds Optum provides don't cover the difference between your current claim payments and your pre-cyberattack payments you can submit a request through this temporary assistance inquiry form.

For more information on Optum's temporary assistance payments, see the program's FAQ page.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is also encouraging Medicare Advantage plans and Medicaid managed care plans to offer doctors and other providers relief during the outage. Specifically, CMS is recommending plans remove or relax prior authorization, other utilization management, and timely filing requirements, as well as offer financial relief.

A collection of information about specific private payers is available for download here. The downloadable document from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services includes contact information to help practices connect with payers regarding impacts of the cyberattack, links to resources payers have set up (including guides to connect to alternate data clearinghouse services), information on advanced payments, and more.

On March 9, CMS announced an advanced payment program for those affected by the outage:

• CMS Accelerated Payments to Part A Providers and Advance Payments to Part B Suppliers Fact Sheet,
• CMS Accelerated and Advanced Payments FAQs
• CMS Statement on Continued Action to Respond to the Cyberattack on Change Healthcare.

The following UHG/Optum webpages have more information about the company’s work to restore services:

• Incident Report for Optum Solutions: This page provides real-time updates on Optum products broadly.
• Optum Solution Status Updates: This page provides updates about specific products and services, including uptime and support availability. You can hover over the special characters on this page for each product to view its status (“x” means major outage, the exclamation point means partial outage, and the checkmark means operational).
• Information on the Change Healthcare Cyber Response: This site provides an overview of the issue and FAQs to address questions about the cyber-attack.

The AAFP will continue to monitor UHG/Optum communications regarding Change Healthcare’s response to the cyberattack. If you have further questions, please reach out to customer service or your provider relations representative.

The American Medical Association is also surveying physicians about how the cyberattack has affected them, to inform the group's lobbying efforts. The survey is open until April 24.

— Brennan Cantrell, AAFP Commercial Health Insurance Strategist

Posted on March 5, 2024