UnitedHealth Group has reactivated core systems that were targeted by the late-February cyberattack against Change Healthcare and called on insurers to return to the platform to speed up the claims process.
Such a return to the platform is a key step to clearing the billing logjam that has plagued long-term care providers since the cyberattack, the company said Wednesday.
“The most important thing to get claims flowing at pre-incident levels is having a critical mass of payer connectivity established,” explained a UHG statement posted to its website. “This allows claims to process for Assurance customers and gets the backlog of claims flowing again.”
Assurance is UHG’s claims processing software and is part of the core functionality that the group has so far restored. Relay Exchange, its largest clearinghouse, was also restored last week.
Long-term care operators have been among the wide range of healthcare providers kept in suspense about their recent Medicare and Medicaid revenues since the attack. Federal regulators have stepped in to provide payment relief and other vital resources to providers as a stopgap following the attack.
Sector leaders, however, have continued to press for more help, stressing that many nursing homes are particularly low on the resources necessary to continue operating through such a widespread payment disruption.
While progress on restoring the vital functions of Change’s clearinghouse continues, there is ground left to cover. A timeline on UHG’s website lays out plans for additional systems to be restored over the next two weeks — such as payer connectivity and risk management services.
That timeline bears out early fears that the massive cyberattack on Change would directly hinder cash flows across the healthcare spectrum for a month or more.
