‘The trickle-down effect is unmeasurable’: C.O. health care workers still feeling the impact of nationwide cyberattack
(Update: adding video, comments from medical billing company, pharmacy services)
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The recent cyberattack on Change Healthcare has had significant impacts on much of the nation's health care system, including on the High Desert.
Change, owned by UnitedHealth Group, processes 15 billion health care transactions annually and is involved in one in every three patient records.
NewsChannel 21 spoke previously with Mosaic Community Health about how the attack was delaying prescription orders.
"Many pharmacies are not able to fill currently for for prescription processing." said Mosaic Director of Pharmacy Services Melissa Brewster. "I know a lot of pharmacies throughout the country, and and many have gone down and have had to switch their prescription processor."
The inability to submit electronic claims has resulted in payment delays for many facilities and physicians.
Michelle Lian, the owner of Oregon Medical Billing and Coding Specialists, told NewsChannel 21, "So we have not been reimbursed for a lot of services since February 21st. Who knows when our physicians will get paid for their services? The trickle-down effect is unmeasurable."
Change Healthcare completes 15 billion transactions a year, which totals $1.5 trillion in health claims, according to their website.
Lian says they've been working on re-enrollment with other clearinghouses, but that has its own challenges.
"Due to the backlog, and it could potentially take up to 90 days to go through that process so we can submit claims," she explained. "So a lot of the facilities and doctors are not getting paid right now in our community, across the country."
On Sunday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services acknowledged the issue in a press release:
"Specifically, we call on UHG, other insurance companies, clearinghouses, and health care entities to take additional actions to mitigate the harms this attack places on patients and providers, particularly our safety net providers."
They urge insurance companies to accept paper claims, which were previously banned.
But Lian said, "That's going to take a while -- and they probably don't have the staff to process paper. It's going to take -- it's going to be a huge delay."
HHS is also asking companies to offer interim payments to providers, to aid in alleviating the financial burden.
There are reports that Change Healthcare paid a $22 million ransom, but this has not been publicly confirmed or denied by the company.
Change Healthcare said they expect to completely restore their services by mid-March.
