Cybersecurity ‘issue’ disrupting some pharmacies

DENVER (KDVR) — A cybersecurity attack on Change Healthcare, owned by UnitedHealth, has impacted prescription fulfillment at various pharmacies, according to the organization.

In a status update regarding applications experiencing connectivity issues, Change Healthcare reported it is addressing a cybersecurity “issue.” The business did not explain the matter further.

According to Change Healthcare’s status updates, multiple areas of the business’s services are affected, including pharmacy solutions.

“Once we became aware of the outside threat, in the interest of protecting our partners and patients, we took immediate action to disconnect our systems to prevent further impact,” the company said. “At this time, we believe the issue is specific to Change Healthcare and all other systems across UnitedHealth Group are operational.”

The disruption is expected to last throughout the day on Thursday and potentially into Friday.

Michael Scruggs, owner of Front Range Pharmacy in Englewood, Colorado, explained that Change Healthcare is the “gatekeeper” between pharmacies and prescription department managers at insurance companies. It generally ensures that pharmacists, doctors and insurance companies are connected and on the same page through a claims-switch pharmacy adjudication network.

Scruggs explained to Nexstar’s KDVR that pharmacies either have to move to a different switch, accept only cash for all prescriptions, submit claims manually to insurance, or change switch networks when the claims-switch network is down.

Scruggs said his company, due to having local ownership with greater flexibility, moved to a different switch, and have had no issues with fulfilling prescriptions.

Viewers reached out to KDVR about issues getting prescriptions filled at Safeway. KDVR has reached out for comment but have not heard back at this time. It is unclear whether the reports are connected to Change Healthcare’s issue.

If you’re unsure whether your pharmacy is impacted, you may want to reach out before going out to pick up your prescription.

Change Healthcare, which was acquired in October 2022 by Optum for $13 billion, first reported the issue on Wednesday morning. According to the business’s website, it had scheduled maintenance for the InterQual solutions products on Feb. 16-17, and updates to its Ahi product on Thursday, Feb. 22.

This issue came just a day before AT&T, Cricket Wireless, Verizon, T-Mobile, and other cellphone service providers experienced a widespread outage. Service interruptions began Thursday morning, but were largely resolved by the afternoon.