Pharmacies across the U.S. are facing delays following a cyberattack on healthcare technology giant Change Healthcare, a leading prescription processing company. Change Healthcare announced Wednesday that it was “experiencing a network interruption related to a cybersecurity issue.”
“After becoming aware of the external threat, to protect our partners and patients, we took immediate action to disconnect our systems to prevent further impact.”Change Healthcare announced.
“At this time, we believe this issue is specific to Change Healthcare and that all other systems across UnitedHealth Group remain operational,” the technology company added. “Disruption is expected to continue at least throughout the day.”
Change Healthcare, one of the nation’s largest healthcare technology companies that processes orders and patient payments across the country, did not disclose the specific nature of the cyberattack.
Meanwhile, pharmacies have been forced to suspend operations due to the incident. report by Huron Daily Tribune.
For example, Scheurer Health, a health care provider in Michigan, said it can no longer fill prescriptions at any of its family pharmacies.
Meanwhile, the medical group at McConnell Air Force Base in Kansas said Wednesday that its “pharmacy is temporarily closed,” adding, “We understand this inconvenience and are working diligently to resolve the issue.” We appreciate your patience,” he added.
“Our team is working to restore full pharmacy services as soon as possible,” 22nd Medical Group added. “The estimated resolution date for this issue is tomorrow. We will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates on our progress.”
“Due to unplanned company-wide MHS GENESIS downtime, 22d Medical Group Pharmacy is unable to process new prescriptions. However, our pharmacy remains open and will continue to fill prescriptions that have already been completed.” the group added in a follow-up post Thursday.
Michigan-based Canadian Lakes Pharmacy also announced Wednesday that it was an “issue that has been occurring since yesterday and is impacting most of our pharmacies.”
Canada’s Lakes Pharmacy said in a statement that “some of North America’s largest prescription processors are experiencing a nationwide outage.”
“While we can pick up your RX, most insurance plans won’t allow us to bill your insurance company. We appreciate if you wait a day or so to receive your RX,” the pharmacy added. .
“Thank you for your understanding, patience, and continued support,” the pharmacy concluded. “Unfortunately, this is completely out of our control and, as I said, it is impacting most pharmacies.”
The issue is expected to last through Friday, but as of this article’s publication, Change Healthcare has not yet provided a timeline for when it will return to its original service.
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