Orders at several pharmacies have been delayed after a cyberattack was detected at UnitedHealth’s technology unit, Change Healthcare.
The company said issues began on Wednesday afternoon and some applications were unavailable. In a later post Wednesday, Change Healthcare said it was experiencing network interruptions related to cybersecurity issues.
Security experts “took immediate action” once the company was aware of the outside threat to protect the interest of its partners and patients.
The cybersecurity threat is ongoing as of Friday morning. The company said it believes that the issue is specific only to Change Healthcare and no other systems across UnitedHealth Group, the parent company, have been affected. It did not disclose the specific nature of the incident.
“The disruption is expected to last at least through the day. We will provide updates as more information becomes available,” the most recent status update said.
Several pharmacy chains said that the outage was affecting their business.
The Hill has reached out to CVS Health and Walgreens for comment about the potential disruption.
CVS said in a statement to Reuters that the hack meant in “certain cases” that it was unable to process insurance claims.
“We’re committed to ensuring access to care as we navigate through this interruption,” CVS’ statement said.
Walgreens said a “small percentage” of its prescriptions “may be affected” but the pharmacy had plans in place to fill prescriptions with “minimal delay or interruption.”
Some users complained online that Publix Super Markets had issues when they tried to fill their prescriptions. GoodRX and BlueCross BlueShield also flagged disruptions, and so did independent pharmacies, Reuters reported.
TechCrunch reported about the hack, and noted that in 2022, UnitedHealth Group completed its merger of healthcare services Optum with Change Healthcare in a nearly $8 billion deal, which allowed Optum access to tens of millions of Americans patient records.
The Hill has reached out to UnitedHealth Group for comment about the ongoing disruption.
