Change Healthcare Outage starting Feb 21st 2024
Change Healthcare Outage starting Feb 21st, 2024
On February 21, Change Healthcare, a subsidiary of Optum and United Healthcare, encountered a cybersecurity breach. In response to this external threat, they promptly disconnected their systems to safeguard partner and patient data. Their team, alongside third-party cybersecurity specialists, is collaborating with law enforcement to resolve the issue.
As of March 21, with the transition over to Optum iEDI, 99% of claim submissions to payers have been restored, greatly reducing the volume of pending claims, with only a small number of claims from smaller payers remaining impacted.
CureMD is diligently working to ensure seamless handling of Electronic Remittance Advice (ERA) during this transition. Here’s a an update on our recent progress:
- Progress with UnitedHealthcare and Aetna: We’ve successfully secured payment information updates from UnitedHealthcare for all our clients. Efforts to obtain similar updates from Aetna through an alternative service are well underway, aiming to maintain the efficiency of your payment processing.
- Direct Processing Enhancements: We’ve established a direct method to quickly process UnitedHealthcare payment details, and we’re extending these improvements to Aetna’s payment information, expecting to complete this shortly.
- Ongoing Engagement for Comprehensive Coverage: In addition to our work with major insurance providers, we’re actively engaging with other payers and intermediaries when necessary. This approach ensures that we’re covering all bases to keep your payment information as current and comprehensive as possible.
How was CureMD affected?
Change Healthcare’s disconnection led to disruptions in electronic claim submissions, electronic remittance advice (ERAs), and real-time eligibility checks. A list of the impacted plans is available at https://cureconnect.curemd.com/impactedPayerList.html and is being updated daily.
How has CureMD addressed the incident to ensure service continuity?
Following the shutdown of Change Healthcare, which affected over 5100 insurance plans, CureMD swiftly initiated the transition of services to alternate partners. This proactive approach successfully rerouted transactions for 3917 plans, ensuring the seamless reprocessing of all EDI requests, including claims.
Despite ongoing efforts, approximately 338 plans tied solely to Change Healthcare continue to face obstacles. Our team is diligently working with industry partners to identify electronic routing alternatives or to establish direct connections with affected payers. The challenge lies in the fact that these payers have exclusivity agreements with Change Healthcare.
Will I still be paid for claims that I submitted before the incident?
Yes. Change Healthcare does not handle electronic funds transfers (EFTs) directly. Thus, any claims processed successfully will be paid as usual. UnitedHealth Group has confirmed that claims submitted to UHC/Optum are also being processed and paid normally.
Will I receive ERAs for those payments?
Only plans exclusive to Change Healthcare are affected; during the downtime, ERAs for these plans will not be sent to CureMD. Users can manually post payment information from plan portals into CureMD to keep balances updated. When ERAs from these plans resume, they should be ‘marked as processed’ in CureMD to avoid duplicate payment posting.
Can I submit claims through CureMD while the clearinghouse is down?
Yes, all claims submitted through CureMD for plans exclusive to Change Healthcare are being held and queued for when the clearinghouse is functional again. Today, we pushed a change to CureMD 10G restricting the upload of additional claims for impacted payers. CureMD is actively monitoring submissions to expedite processing once services resume, with strategies in place to manage the backlog efficiently.
What other options do I have to submit claims?
For plans that accept paper submissions, you may produce CMS 1500 paper claims for any service date from CureMD. Additionally, many plan portals offer the option for manual claim submission. It is advisable to label these claims as ‘submitted on paper’ within CureMD to prevent future duplicate submissions.
Paper claims, under normal circumstances, take an average of 30 days to process. Due to the current situation and the expected increase in paper submissions, we anticipate that processing times may extend beyond this average for paper claims.
How can I find out more information about my claims or check eligibility?
The current best approach is to utilize plan portals directly. These portals typically offer functionalities for eligibility verification, claim submission and tracking, and access to remittance details.
Do you have more information about what happened, or a potential timeline for operations to return to normal?
Change Healthcare’s response to the cybersecurity incident has been measured, with limited specifics disclosed due to the sensitive nature of the attack. UnitedHealth Group’s regulatory filings suggest a nation-state actor may be involved. The extent of data compromise remains uncertain as forensic and legal experts investigate. Efforts to restore services prioritize patient-critical systems like e-prescribing and imaging, with a commitment to addressing revenue cycle operations promptly.
Our emergency support desk is available to assist you in any way possible. We apologize for the inconvenience this outage is causing and will continue to publish daily updates to keep you informed.
