Change Healthcare – a healthcare technology company that is part of Optum and owned by UnitedHealth Group, experienced a cyberattack on Feb 21st which has disrupted payment and revenue cycle management operations for pharmacies, health systems, and doctors. Physicians across the country are seeing disruptions in claims processing and day-to-day practice operations. Some clearinghouses are disconnecting from Optum and UnitedHealthcare to mitigate risk to their own systems and this may delay the processing of claims submitted to United.
UnitedHealthcare informed the American Medical Association that to help physicians until systems are restored, the company will make weekly payments to practices based on historical payments made by United and the payments will be reconciled after systems are restored. This is yet another blow to hospitals and physicians that are struggling to make ends meet in the face of payment reductions.
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