Change Healthcare announced on Friday the completion of its new electronic prescription service setup, aiming to alleviate the strain on pharmacies and physicians grappling with the aftermath of the ongoing cyberattack.
Parent company UnitedHealth Group disclosed a cyber threat breach in part of its information technology network on February 21, leading to the immediate isolation and disconnection of affected systems upon detection. This disruption has caused widespread ripple effects across the healthcare sector.
Change Healthcare specializes in payment and revenue cycle management tools facilitating transactions between providers and major insurance companies, alongside providing electronic prescription software.
In a recent update, Change Healthcare confirmed the successful testing of a new iteration of its “Rx ePrescribing service” with vendors and retail pharmacy partners. The service became operational for all customers from 2 p.m. ET on Friday. However, existing Clinical Exchange ePrescribing provider tools remain inactive.
UnitedHealth also launched a dedicated website on Friday to provide information regarding Change Healthcare’s response to the cyberattack. The site includes details on a temporary funding assistance program established to aid providers facing interrupted payment distributions.
This program incurs no fees, interest, or associated costs, with repayment expected upon the resumption of standard operations. Providers can assess their eligibility via a link provided on the new website.
Recognizing the urgency of restoring payment operations, UnitedHealth underscored the program’s role in maintaining the flow of payments across the healthcare ecosystem. Notably, the program does not cater to providers experiencing disruptions in claims submissions. For such cases, manual workarounds are recommended, with efforts underway to address the 15% of claims beyond workaround capabilities.
UnitedHealth reported that over 90% of the nation’s pharmacies had implemented modified electronic claims processing workarounds, with the remaining establishments resorting to offline processing systems. As of Friday, data suggests that pharmacy claims are approaching normal levels of processing, according to the new website.
Despite experiencing 10 consecutive days of system downtime, UnitedHealth remains committed to resolving disruptions and restoring operational stability.
