Change Healthcare experiencing a cyberattack

Change Healthcare, a software and data analytics vendor that offers revenue cycle management, clinical decision support and other operations tools, announced Wednesday it took its systems offline due to a cyber incident.

“Once we became aware of the outside threat, in the interest of protecting our partners and patients, we took immediate action to disconnect our systems to prevent further impact,” the company said in an online incident report. 

While Change Healthcare said the systems of United Health Group (Change is a subsidiary of United Health) have not been affected, pharmacies in Michigan and others across the U.S. are reporting they are unable to process prescriptions.

THE LARGER TREND

Optum acquired Change Healthcare in 2021 for $13 billion, pairing Change’s technology integrating evidence-based criteria into the clinician workflows with Optum’s clinical analytics expertise.

In 2022, Change Healthcare launched patient engagement tools to help patients better navigate the care continuum and improve revenue cycle management for providers.

It is one of the largest healthcare companies and prescription providers in the United States, and handles 15 billion healthcare transactions annually, according to its website.

ON THE RECORD

“At this time, we believe the issue is specific to Change Healthcare and all other systems across UnitedHealth Group are operational,” the company said on its website Thursday. 

Andrea Fox is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.