News: UnitedHealth slowly recovers from largest cyberattack in history

UnitedHealth Group has stated that many of its subsidiaries, third party systems, and networks will be operable in the coming weeks following a massive cyberattack on Change Healthcare (a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group) last month, according to Fierce Healthcare.

Change Healthcare is responsible for a variety of different healthcare functions, including managing clinical criteria used in authorizing patient care and coverage, claims processing, clinical information exchange, and drug prescription processing.

According to Fierce Healthcare, UnitedHealth’s largest clearinghouse—Relay Exchange—will begin processing a $14 billion backlog in medical claims this coming weekend.

UnitedHealth has also posted an “estimated timeline” regarding its systems restoration since the attack. Here is a breakdown of some of those events:

• March 7: UnitedHealth restores 99% of Change Healthcare’s pharmacy network services
• March 15: Change Healthcare’s electronic payments platform becomes operable
• March 18: Assurance—the company’s medical claims preparation software—goes back online
• March 22: More than $14 billion in charges are backlogged in Assurance

CMS is continuing to monitor the situation as UnitedHealth recuperates.

UnitedHealth has projected that its clinical exchange service, payer connectivity, and hosted payer services will become operable the week of April 1.

Editor’s note: To read the Fierce Healthcare coverage, click here. To read ACDIS’ coverage of the American Hospital Association’s response, click here. To read ACDIS’ coverage of CMS response, click here. To read UnitedHealth's estimated timeline, click here.