Change Healthcare, a prominent healthcare technology giant in the United States, has fallen victim to a cyber attack, leading to a significant network interruption. The company acknowledged the incident in a brief statement, indicating that the disruption was related to a cybersecurity issue and was expected to last for an extended period. Immediate measures were taken upon detection of the threat, with systems being promptly disconnected to prevent further impact on partners and patients.
The cyber incident commenced early on a Tuesday morning along the U.S. East Coast, as reported by the incident tracker. Although the specific nature of the attack was not disclosed, the effects were noticeable across Change Healthcare’s platforms, with many login pages inaccessible or offline. The outage had a widespread ripple effect, with local pharmacies, such as those in Michigan, reporting disruptions in prescription processing due to the cyberattack targeting Change Healthcare.
One such affected healthcare provider, Scheurer Health, voiced its inability to process prescriptions through patients’ insurance, attributing the issue to a “nationwide outage” caused by the cyberattack on Change Healthcare, as stated on their Facebook page. Change Healthcare’s significance in the healthcare ecosystem underscores the magnitude of the disruption, as the company handles patient payments across the U.S. healthcare system. With its merger with UnitedHealth Group’s Optum in 2022, Change Healthcare’s role in managing vast amounts of patient records further amplifies the impact of the cyber incident on the healthcare industry.
