The unprecedented February 2024 cyber-attack to Change Healthcare, a division of United Healthcare, has caused significant impacts to physicians and other health systems across NC. Your NCMS Board of Directors discussed these impacts extensively during their most recent meeting this past Saturday.
NCMS staff have worked to stay abreast of the evolution of this massive data breach and the systems that many of our practices rely upon for timely payment and cashflow. We have participated in AMA calls with the leaders of United Healthcare and Optum Health to get regular updates on when to expect these systems to become operable again.
In the meantime, practices across NC have felt irreparable harm to their cashflow processes. Many have even had to resort to taking out loans that will now cost them interest even as they are able to recoup their reimbursements over time. NCMS has taken steps to educate the NC Department of Insurance on these and other impacts from this event.
United Healthcare has reached out to NCMS with the following resources and guidance to assist you during this challenging time:
- Timing Updates: For current updates on the timeline to restore Change Healthcare systems for pharmacy services, payments, and medical claims, please visit the Change Healthcare Cyber Response Website.
- Temporary Provider Funding Assistance: Need help bridging the gap in short-term cash flow needs? Find out if you’re eligible for financial support here or call 1-877-702-3253.
- Pharmacy Network: Electronic prescribing is now functional with claim submission and payment transmission also available. We continue to work to address issues for a subset of pharmacies that are still offline, disruption for infusion pharmacies and challenges for some Medicaid fee-for-service customers. If you are experiencing any additional disruption to pharmacy services, please visit the Change Healthcare Cyber Response Website for updates.
- Submitting Claims/Payment: For additional information on workarounds for submitting claims/payment, guidance on prior authorizations and more, visit UnitedHealthcare’s Provider Portal.
- Secure Data Transfer: Need help submitting claims or uploading and securely transferring larger files? Learn more about Optum iEDI secure data transfer.
- Status Dashboard: Get regular updates about products and services, including uptime and support availability.
- Need Additional Help? Contact Change Healthcare Client Services at: [email protected]. For Accounts Payable inquiries, email: [email protected].