On Thursday, UnitedHealth Group (UHG) disclosed that its subsidiary, Change Healthcare, had fallen victim to a cyberattack by suspected nation-state hackers. The ongoing incident, which has yet to be resolved, has caused disruptions in the processing of healthcare transactions and patient records.
Change Healthcare, which processes billions of healthcare transactions annually and handles a significant portion of U.S. patient records, has been offline since the attack began on Wednesday. The specific nature of the cyberattack has not been disclosed, but its impact has been felt across the healthcare industry.
Pharmacies nationwide are reporting difficulties in fulfilling prescriptions through patients’ insurance, leading to challenges for both healthcare workers and patients. With approximately 100 million Americans affected by the outage at Change Healthcare, the repercussions of the cyberattack are widespread.
UHG has been working diligently to address the cybersecurity incident, collaborating with security experts, law enforcement, and affected parties. However, there is no timeline for when systems will be back online, leaving the healthcare industry to deal with the consequences of the ongoing attack.
While UHG has not specified which nation or government may be behind the cyberattack, the incident serves as a reminder of the vulnerability of critical infrastructure to malicious actors. As the healthcare industry continues to navigate this challenging situation, the need for robust cybersecurity measures has never been more apparent. The Puck Drop will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates as they become available.
