UnitedHealth unit will start processing $14 billion medical claims
backlog after hack
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[March 23, 2024]
By Leroy Leo
(Reuters) -UnitedHealth Group said on Friday its Change Healthcare unit
will start to process the medical claims backlog of more than $14
billion as it resumes some software services disrupted by a cyberattack
last month.
The company has been scrambling to resume services at the technology
unit that was hit by a cyberattack on Feb. 21, disrupting payments to
U.S. doctors and healthcare facilities and forcing the U.S. government
to launch a probe.
Community health centers that serve more than 30 million poor and
uninsured patients have been especially hit.
The company has advanced payments of more than $2.5 billion so far to
provide assistance to healthcare providers financially affected by the
disruption, an increase from the over $2 billion it had disclosed on
Monday.
UnitedHealth also extended the repayment period for providers, who will
now have 45 business days to return the relief funds.
Change Healthcare is a key player in the U.S. healthcare system that
depends heavily on insurance, processing about 50% of medical claims for
around 900,000 physicians, 33,000 pharmacies, 5,500 hospitals and 600
laboratories.
The unit was breached by a hacking group called ALPHV, also known as "BlackCat",
creating a knock-on effect that the largest U.S. health insurer is
expected to take several months from which to fully recover.
The health insurer said its software for preparing medical claims
Assurance went online on Monday, while its largest clearinghouse Relay
Exchange will resume on the weekend of March 23.
A clearinghouse acts as a middleman between a healthcare provider and a
health plan that checks claims to ensure they do not contain errors
before forwarding them for payment.
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The corporate logo of the UnitedHealth Group appears on the side of
one of their office buildings in Santa Ana, California, U.S., April
13, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo
The insurer said it will work with
payers to ensure there are a maximum number of available locations
for claims and is actively coordinating with other clearinghouses to
make sure there are no capacity issues.
UnitedHealth had suspended paperwork required to get approval for
insurance coverage for most outpatient services, as well as review
of inpatient admissions for government-backed Medicare Advantage
plans to help those impacted.
UnitedHealth also expects to engage all those who submitted claims
during the week of March 25.
The company's other products that handle eligibility of claims such
as Clearance and Coverage Insight as well as pharmacy claims
submission software MedRx and Reimbursement Manager are expected to
go online next week.
Several more products are likely to go online over the weeks of
April 1 and April 8, the company said.
Some products, however, were not listed in Friday's update as it
does not yet have clarity of when they will be restored, the company
said, adding it will provide updated information as those timelines
become clear.
(Reporting by Mariam Sunny and Leroy Leo in Bengaluru; Editing by
Krishna Chandra Eluri)
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