Major nationwide healthcare billing and other systems, including the ability of pharmacies to bill insurance for prescriptions, have been frozen since Feb 21 by a cyber attack.

"Change Healthcare, which is one of the largest health care technology companies in the United States, Feb. 21 was hit with a cyberattack that began disrupting a number of its systems and services, according to published reports and a statement posted on Change Healthcare’s website.

“Change Healthcare is experiencing a cyber security issue, and our experts are working to address the matter,” according to the latest Change Healthcare statement posted on its website at 11:32 a.m. ET on Feb. 22. “Once we became aware of the outside threat, in the interest of protecting our partners and patients, we took immediate action to disconnect our systems to prevent further impact. At this time, we believe the issue is specific to Change Healthcare and all other systems across UnitedHealth Group are operational.”

"In 2022, UnitedHealth Group completed its merger of U.S. healthcare services company Optum and Change Healthcare. Optum provides services in technology, data, pharmacy care and direct health care.

"The AHA has been in communication with the FBI, Department of Health and Human Services, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency regarding this incident."

https://www.aha.org/advisory/2024-0

Published February 23, 2024 9:52am EST

Pharmacies scramble to serve sick customers as 'nation-state' blamed for ongoing cyberattack outage

Change Healthcare cyberattack being blamed on ‘suspected nation-state'

https://www.foxbusiness.com/healthcare/pharmacies-scramble-serve-sick-customers-nation-state-blamed-ongoing-cyberattack-outage

UnitedHealth says a likely 'nation-state actor' behind Change Healthcare cyberattack

By Paige MinemyerFeb 23, 2024 12:30pm

https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/payers/optums-change-healthcare-responding-cybersecurity-issue