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Change Healthcare Cybersecurity Attack

Last Updated

Oct 10, 2025, 14:52 PM

PAMED members continue to be impacted by the recent cybersecurity incident affecting Change Healthcare that has resulted in a substantial interruption of revenue, authorization processes, and even availability of prescriptions although E-prescribing solution seems to be mostly resolved as of Friday, March 1st according to UHG due to their workaround. According to First Health Advisory, healthcare providers are losing over $100 million each day.

PAMED staff met with Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner, Michael Humphreys and his team to learn about the role Pennsylvania is able to play in this national incident. Commissioner Humphreys noted awareness and active involvement with insurers and health care providers. While the Insurance Commission is unable to implement requirements, they are encouraging financial relief, timely solutions, and a commitment to do their part to assist the health care system as a whole.

Click here to read a letter regarding the attack from the Insurance Commission.

On Tuesday, March 19, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services held a webinar titled "Provider Briefing on Response to Cyberattack on Change Healthcare" and the recording can be found here. 

HHS has also provided a resource as a way for providers to contact specific payers surrounding workarounds until the Change Healthcare system is restored. This can be found here. 

Resources

United Health Group (UHG) site that includes current updates on the cyberattack 

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced a new opportunity for physicians impacted by the cyberattack and resulting disruptions with Change Healthcare to request advanced Medicare payments to help cash flow disruptions.

The American Medical Association: https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/sustainability/change-healthcare-cyber-outage

On March 13, CMS published FAQs FAQs related to the Change Healthcare/Optum payment disruption accelerated and advance payments. These go into detail about what services qualify for accelerated and advance payments, application criteria, terms of repayment, financial concerns, and other topics.

https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/change-healthcare/optum-payment-disruption-chopd-accelerated-and-advance-payments-part-providers-and

Although these resources are announced by CMS, providers are still expected to apply through their respective Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC). Pennsylvania’s MAC is Novitas-Solutions. It is important to review the eligibility, certification, and criteria under the CMS fact sheet before applying. Details can be found in the following links including the link to Novitas-Solutions to apply for advance payments: 

National Advocacy - Submit information about experiences stemming from the Change Healthcare cybersecurity incident to AMA at ama.advocacy@ama-assn.org inbox.  Advocacy staff will use the information in their discussions with the Biden Administration as well as UnitedHealth Group (UHG).

Temporary Funding Solution - For those who receive reimbursements from Optum, a temporary funding solution was announced.  The website to apply is:  www.optum.com/temporaryfunding. 

Their temporary funding assistance program is designed to support:

  • Providers who receive payments from payers that are processed by Change Healthcare.
  • UnitedHealthcare medical, dental and vision providers. 
  • Providers who have exhausted all available connection options - or are in the process of implementing workaround solutions - and who work with other payers who have opted not to advance funds while the Change systems are down.

An estimate will be generated using the past year’s reimbursements to determine an average weekly amount to be distributed to the practice to aide their working capital.  These weekly payments will not automatically renew; instead, a provider must elect to accept funding each week.  It is interest free, and without any fees. Once all claims are flowing normally, the monies will need to be paid back within forty-five days of a provided notice. 

Payments platform – Change Healthcare’s electronic payments platform was restored on March 15th and is currently moving forward with payer implementations. Once the claims start flowing to payers, the flow of funds will be dependent upon the payers. The processing of payments will occur immediately once Change Healthcare receives and processes the claims. 

Medical Claims – Assurance, Change Healthcare’s medical claims preparation software, went back online on March 18th. Providers are expected to go through a testing and re-connection phase which has already started. The next stage for providers is for them to work through their backlogs of claim files. So far, claims with more than $14 billion in charges have been prepped for processing through the software as of March 22.

Change Healthcare’s largest clearinghouse, Relay Exchange, was expected to be back online this past weekend, along with third-party documentation. Below are the next operational steps as long as the restoration continues to progress:

  1. Change Healthcare will work with payers to maximize the number of available locations. 
  2. They will expect to finalize plans with other clearinghouses. They are currently coordinating with them to ensure there are not any capacity concerns as claims start to flow. They’ll also turn their attention to restoring their trading partner connectivity with other clearinghouses to completely open the exchange of transactions.
  3. They will make the system available for Assurance customers to launch their staged claims. 
  4. Change Healthcare will expect to have engaged with all submitters this week.

More information surrounding the status of the claims network can be found on UHG’s Cyber Response page. 

SmartPay Application - For practices using Change Healthcare's SmartPay for patient financial services, SmartPay Plus is available to be used though it will involve a 5-day implementation period. This may be used until SmartPay is restored. 

Claims Submission Solution - UHG has a solution for claims submission through their EDI option.  Use this link to reach out for client assistance client_assistance@optum.com  and their team will connect you to resources and webinars to learn more. 

The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) - DHS advised health care providers participating in Pennsylvania’s Medicaid program (also known as Medical Assistance in Pennsylvania) on how they may continue to bill DHS directly for fee-for-service claims while Change Healthcare, a national billing and claims management system used by both payers and health care providers, remains unavailable due to a cyber-attack. 

Department of Health and Human Services

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)

  • Memo to All Medicare Advantage Organizations, Part D Sponsors, and Medicare-Medicaid Plans Addressing Impacts Related to the Cyberattack on Change Healthcare
  • Change Healthcare/Optum Payment Disruption (CHOPD) Accelerated Payments to Medicare Part A Providers and Advance Payments to Part B Suppliers Fact Sheet
  • CHOPD Accelerated and Advance Payments for Medicare Part A Providers and Part B Suppliers Frequently Asked Questions
  • Change Healthcare Cybersecurity Incident – CMS Response and State Flexibilities Centers for Medicaid & CHIP Services (CMCS) Informational Bulletin

Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR)

Finally, health care organizations with general questions for HHS regarding the Change Healthcare cyber incident or seeking access to HHS resources and support to help them enhance their cybersecurity posture should contact hhscyber@hhs.gov or go to the department’s new website—www.hphcyber.hhs.gov—which serves as a centralized platform connecting healthcare organizations to a wealth of cybersecurity resources provided by HHS and other federal agencies. This new website is designed to be a consistently evolving, comprehensive, and accessible hub improving access to information, programs, and resources to enhance cybersecurity practices across the industry.

Highmark is offering assistance to their participating providers who are being impacted by the Cyber Event. This assistance program will provide funding advances for eligible participating providers. For more information, please see the direct announcement below.

Highmark Announcement: https://www.highmark.com/newsroom/press-releases/highmark-assisting-participating-providers-impacted-by-change-healthcare-cyber-event

US Department of Health and Human Services Statement

    Major payer’ information/workarounds/notifications to providers:

    PAMED partner Panacea Financial can help practice affected by the Change Healthcare Cyber Attack. Learn More https://lp.panaceafinancial.com/change-healthcare-help

    As PAMED receives more information, we’ll share it here, so please check back.

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