(Reuters) – UnitedHealth Group said on Friday that more than $14 billion in medical claims will soon be transferred to its division as multiple services that process medical claims are gradually brought online in the coming weeks following last month’s cyberattack. He said he expects it to start flowing through Change Healthcare.
The Feb. 21 cyberattack disrupted payments for a month to doctors and medical facilities across the country, especially community health centers that serve more than 30 million poor and uninsured patients.
The company has also advanced more than $2.5 billion to date to help healthcare providers financially affected by the disruption, up from the more than $2 billion it disclosed on Monday.
UnitedHealth also extended the repayment period for providers, who now have 45 business days to return relief funds.
The health insurance company announced that Assurance, its software for creating medical insurance claims, will go online on Monday, and its largest payment processor, Relay Exchange, will reopen the weekend of March 23.
UnitedHealth had suspended the paperwork required to obtain insurance coverage approval for most outpatient services and inpatient reviews for the government-backed Medicare Advantage plan that helps affected people.
The insurer said it is working with payers to ensure the maximum number of locations available for claims and is actively coordinating with other clearinghouses to ensure capacity issues do not arise. Ta.
Clearinghouses act as intermediaries between health care providers and health plans, checking claims for errors before forwarding them for payment.
UnitedHealth also expects to engage all people who filed claims the week of March 25th.
The company’s other products that handle claims eligibility, such as Clearance and Coverage Insight, as well as pharmacy claims submission software MedRx and Reimbursement Manager, are also expected to come online next week.
The company says several more products may come online in the coming weeks from April 1st to April 8th.
However, some products are not included in Friday’s update because it is not yet clear when they will be restored, the company said, adding that it will provide updates once the timeline is clear. .
Change Healthcare, which processes about 50% of medical claims for about 900,000 physicians, 33,000 pharmacies, 5,500 hospitals, and 600 laboratories in the United States, announced on February 21st that it is also known as “BlackCat.” It was compromised by a hacking group called ALPHV.
Following the cyberattack, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last week launched an investigation into the breach of protected medical data at the unit.
(Reporting by Mariam Sunny and Leroy Leo in Bangalore; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
