In this photo illustration, the UnitedHealth Group Inc logo is seen displayed on a tablet.
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Change Healthcare said Friday that it has finished setting up a new electronic prescription service, which could help provide some relief to pharmacies and doctors who have been struggling to deal with the fallout from the ongoing cyberattack.
UnitedHealth GroupChange Healthcare's parent company, is also launching a temporary financing assistance program to help providers manage their “near-term” cash flow needs, the company said.
UnitedHealth discovered that a cyber threat actor breached part of the unit's information technology network on Feb. 21, according to an SEC filing. UnitedHealth isolated and took the affected systems offline “immediately upon detection” of the threat, according to the document, which has since caused disruption across the healthcare system.
Change Healthcare offers payment and revenue cycle management tools that help transact between providers and most major insurance companies. It also offers electronic prescription software.
In an update on Friday, Change Healthcare said it had successfully tested a new version of its “Rx ePrescribing service” with providers and retail pharmacy partners. The service was enabled for all customers as of 2 p.m. ET on Friday, although the company added that its Clinical Exchange e-prescribing provider tools are not yet working.
UnitedHealth also launched a website Friday with information about Change Healthcare's response to the attack. On site, UnitedHealth said it is establishing a temporary financial assistance program to help providers whose payment distributions have been interrupted.
The company said the program will have no fees, interest or other costs associated with it, and that funds will need to be repaid when standard operations resume. Providers can check their eligibility through a link through the new website.
“We understand the urgency of resuming payment operations and continuing the flow of payments through the healthcare ecosystem,” UnitedHealth said on the site.
The company added that the program is not intended for providers who are experiencing disruptions in claims submission. UnitedHealth recommends using manual solutions for claims and said it is working to address the 15% of claims that alternative solutions cannot address.
UnitedHealth said late Monday that more than 90% of the nation's pharmacies had established modified workarounds for electronic claims processing, while the remainder established offline processing systems. On Friday, the company said its data suggests pharmaceutical claims are “flowing at near-normal levels,” according to the new website.
Many of the company's systems have been down for 10 days straight.
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