Change Healthcare is slated to have its key system functionalities restored by mid-March after a February cyberattack, UnitedHealth Group said March 7.
Electronic prescribing was fully restored, and patients are able to access their medicines, UnitedHealth Group said in a news release. Starting March 15, electronic payment functionality will be available, and testing for reestablishing the claims network will start March 18.
The restorations follow a weekslong ordeal affecting hospitals, health systems and practices. But the American Medical Association says more needs to be done, with full transparency and security assurances being critical.
"The March 18 timeline for testing Change Healthcare claims systems means significant financial disruption on physician practices will extend past 26 days before there is the possibility of establishing reliable network connections," Jesse Ehrenfeld, MD, said in a March 8 news release. "The prospect of a month or more without a restored Change Healthcare claims system emphasizes the critical need for economic assistance to physicians, including advancing funds to financially stressed medical practices."
The Change Healthcare cyberattack also has the attention of spine surgeon Brian Gantwerker, MD, who said he has seen some colleagues struggle.
"In the grand scheme of things, Change will pay about $22 million in ransom, equivalent to one year’s salary of the CEO of UnitedHealth," he said. "Most likely exactly no one — not the hackers and not the IT people that did not keep up with their software patches will be held accountable. It is time we asked ourselves: 'Is this a group of people we want driving our system with all of us in the back seat?' This incident should concern all of us in healthcare, as well as our patients. Now, if we can just get the people that seemingly have the discretion to make the decisions that place these unconcerned, and from the looks of it, incompetent entities in charge to pay attention — we would be getting somewhere."