UnitedHealth cyberattack: US Dept. of HHS addresses fallout

The US Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) will team up with the UnitedHealth Group (UNH) to address the fallout from a cyberattack involving Change Healthcare, a unit of UnitedHealth Group. HHS will help providers find alternative payment systems and request leniency from other insurers.

Yahoo Finance Reporter Anjalee Khemlani joins the Live show to break down the recent statement from HHS and what it means for UnitedHealth and Change Healthcare moving forward.

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live.

Editor's note: This article was written by Nicholas Jacobino

Video Transcript

[AUDIO LOGO]

JOSH LIPTON: UnitedHealth group and the US Department of Health and Human Services are laying out action plans following the cyber attack on United Change Health Care, a unit of UnitedHealth Group he said. Our health reporter Anjalee Khemlani is here with the very latest. Anjalee.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: That's right, guys. Yeah, we know that, of course, the change cyber attack has been in the news for the past two weeks really creating problems for hospitals, doctor groups, and pharmacies. UnitedHealth came out with a lengthy statement yesterday saying that they are back online mostly with pharmacies. So they're at about 100% and should be reaching there by the end of this week.

Meanwhile, looking at hospitals, there are about 90% back online with claims now. Just a recap, change health care does processing of payments, and claims, and prior authorizations for these entities. And so what really happened is in addition to united coming out with giving that update, the US health department has now intervened because of how problematic this has been.

Stopping payment altogether for some health entities, including doctor groups and the like. And so they've found a way to help these groups find alternate payment routes, as well as are asking for leniency on things like prior authorization from other insurers in order to be able to continue the flow of operations, essentially. I mean, if you think about it CVS, for example, had 25% of its claims going through change health care. So just to give you the size and the scale of what this change deal is.

We've heard about cyber attacks in health care over the years. But this is the largest one because it really hits at a key part of the pipeline of health care. And that is sort of the payment systems.

And just how interoperability, which is not enterprise and closed off systems work. And one of the key things for UnitedHealth is just how large a role it plays in the economy of health care. We know it's one of the largest employers of providers.

But it also controls a lot of health care dollars. If you take a look at it, not only do they have change, but they also have an entire arm dedicated to finance. That includes HSAs, FSAs, other wellness benefits. In addition to all that, they finance affordable housing and get low in tax credits based on that, as well as are the owners, they acquired one of the largest processors for payments for the WIC program, as well as for Medicare. They're involved in that as well.

So it's a lot of health care dollars under one roof, which is why there's a lot of focus on this. And the question of whether or not they're ready and prepared. And other health entities are ready and prepared as they are getting more into the text space to counter some of these potential attacks.

JULIE HYMAN: And prevent them, hopefully, before they even start. Anjalee, thank you so much. Appreciate it.