Please see the post from Change Healthcare regarding Temporary Funding Assistance:

https://www.optum.com/en/business/providers/health-systems/payments-lending-solutions/optum-pay/temporary-funding-assistance.html

Temporary Funding Assistance

Change Healthcare processes payments for many payers and those systems were impacted.

We understand the urgency of resuming payment operations and continuing the flow of payments through the health care ecosystem. While we are working to resume standard payment operations, we recognize that some providers who receive payments from payers that were processed by Change Healthcare, may need more immediate access to funding.   

We are mobilizing Optum Financial Services to help our Change Healthcare colleagues and customers support the most impacted providers.  

For provider organizations impacted by that payer system outage, we've established a temporary funding assistance support program to help with short-term cash flow needs. You can now choose to receive short-term temporary funding assistance from us.

Once standard payment operations resume, the funds will simply need to be repaid.  We have been able to estimate your average weekly payments, which will be the basis for the support. Our plan is to take this week by week with people re-upping for funding each week as needs persist. 

For clarity, this is not a program for providers who have had claims submission disruptions but rather for those whose payment distribution has been impacted.

 To determine eligibility and funding amount, you must register for the program. An Optum Pay account is required to complete registration and to receive funds and repay funds. Use your existing Optum Pay account or sign-up for Optum Pay to log-in.

Please see the latest update from HHS regarding the Change Healthcare Cybersecurity  situation: 

https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2024/03/05/hhs-statement-regarding-the-cyberattack-on-change-healthcare.html

HHS Statement Regarding the Cyberattack on Change Healthcare

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is aware that Change Healthcare – a unit of UnitedHealth Group (UHG) – was impacted by a cybersecurity incident in late February. HHS recognizes the impact this attack has had on health care operations across the country. HHS' first priority is to help coordinate efforts to avoid disruptions to care throughout the health care system.

HHS is in regular contact with UHG leadership, state partners, and with numerous external stakeholders to better understand the nature of the impacts and to ensure the effectiveness of UHG's response. HHS has made clear its expectation that UHG does everything in its power to ensure continuity of operations for all health care providers impacted and HHS appreciates UHG's continuous efforts to do so. HHS is also leading interagency coordination of the Federal government's related activities, including working closely with the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the White House, and other agencies to provide credible, actionable threat intelligence to industry wherever possible.

HHS refers directly to UHG for updates on their incident response progress and recovery planning. However, numerous hospitals, doctors, pharmacies and other stakeholders have highlighted potential cash flow concerns to HHS stemming from an inability to submit claims and receive payments. HHS has heard these concerns and is taking direct action and working to support the important needs of the health care community.

Today, HHS is announcing immediate steps that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is taking to assist providers to continue to serve patients. CMS will continue to communicate with the health care community and assist, as appropriate. Providers should continue to work with all their payers for the latest updates on how to receive timely payments.

Affected parties should be aware of the following flexibilities in place:

• Medicare providers needing to change clearinghouses that they use for claims processing during these outages should contact their Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) to request a new electronic data interchange (EDI) enrollment for the switch. The MAC will provide instructions based on the specific request to expedite the new EDI enrollment. CMS has instructed the MACs to expedite this process and move all provider and facility requests into production and ready to bill claims quickly. CMS is strongly encouraging other payers, including state Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) agencies and Medicaid and CHIP managed care plans, to waive or expedite solutions for this requirement.
• CMS will issue guidance to Medicare Advantage (MA) organizations and Part D sponsors encouraging them to remove or relax prior authorization, other utilization management, and timely filing requirements during these system outages. CMS is also encouraging MA plans to offer advance funding to providers most affected by this cyberattack.
• CMS strongly encourages Medicaid and CHIP managed care plans to adopt the same strategies of removing or relaxing prior authorization and utilization management requirements, and consider offering advance funding to providers, on behalf of Medicaid and CHIP managed care enrollees to the extent permitted by the State. 

• If Medicare providers are having trouble filing claims or other necessary notices or other submissions, they should contact their MAC for details on exceptions, waivers, or extensions, or contact CMS regarding quality reporting programs.

• CMS has contacted all of the MACs to make sure they are prepared to accept paper claims from providers who need to file them. While we recognize that electronic billing is preferable for everyone, the MACs must accept paper submissions if a provider needs to file claims in that method.

CMS has also heard from providers about the availability of accelerated payments, like those issued during the COVID-19 pandemic. We understand that many payers are making funds available while billing systems are offline, and providers should take advantage of those opportunities. However, CMS recognizes that hospitals may face significant cash flow problems from the unusual circumstances impacting hospitals' operations, and – during outages arising from this event – facilities may submit accelerated payment requests to their respective servicing MACs for individual consideration. We are working to provide additional information to the MACs about the specific items and information a provider's request should contain. Specific information will be available from the MACs later this week.

This incident is a reminder of the interconnectedness of the domestic health care ecosystem and of the urgency of strengthening cybersecurity resiliency across the ecosystem. That's why, in December 2023, HHS released a concept paper that outlines the Department's cybersecurity strategy for the sector. The concept paper builds on the National Cybersecurity Strategy that President Biden released last year, focusing specifically on strengthening resilience for hospitals, patients, and communities threatened by cyber-attacks. The paper details four pillars for action, including publishing new voluntary health care-specific cybersecurity performance goals, working with Congress to develop supports and incentives for domestic hospitals to improve cybersecurity, increasing accountability within the health care sector, and enhancing coordination through a one-stop shop.

HHS will continue to communicate with the health care sector and encourage continued dialogue among affected parties. We will continue to communicate with UHG, closely monitor their ongoing response to this cyberattack, and promote transparent, robust response while working with the industry to close any gaps that remain.

HHS also takes this opportunity to encourage all providers, technology vendors, and members of the health care ecosystem to double down on cybersecurity, with urgency. The system and the American people can ill afford further disruptions in care. Please visit the HPH Cyber Performance Goals website for more details on steps to stay protected.

Please see the post from Change Healthcare regarding Temporary Funding Assistance:

https://www.optum.com/en/business/providers/health-systems/payments-lending-solutions/optum-pay/temporary-funding-assistance.html

Temporary Funding Assistance

Change Healthcare processes payments for many payers and those systems were impacted.

We understand the urgency of resuming payment operations and continuing the flow of payments through the health care ecosystem. While we are working to resume standard payment operations, we recognize that some providers who receive payments from payers that were processed by Change Healthcare, may need more immediate access to funding.   

We are mobilizing Optum Financial Services to help our Change Healthcare colleagues and customers support the most impacted providers.  

For provider organizations impacted by that payer system outage, we've established a temporary funding assistance support program to help with short-term cash flow needs. You can now choose to receive short-term temporary funding assistance from us.

Once standard payment operations resume, the funds will simply need to be repaid.  We have been able to estimate your average weekly payments, which will be the basis for the support. Our plan is to take this week by week with people re-upping for funding each week as needs persist. 

For clarity, this is not a program for providers who have had claims submission disruptions but rather for those whose payment distribution has been impacted.

 To determine eligibility and funding amount, you must register for the program. An Optum Pay account is required to complete registration and to receive funds and repay funds. Use your existing Optum Pay account or sign-up for Optum Pay to log-in.

Press release from UnitedHealth Group below - published 3/7/24:

UnitedHealth Group continues to make substantial progress in mitigating the impact to consumers and care providers of the unprecedented cyberattack on the U.S. health system and the Change Healthcare claims and payment infrastructure. Our focus has been on ensuring access to care and medications by addressing challenges to pharmacy, medical claims and payment systems targeted by the attack.

"We are committed to providing relief for people affected by this malicious attack on the U.S. health system," said Andrew Witty, CEO of UnitedHealth Group. "All of us at UnitedHealth Group feel a deep sense of responsibility for recovery and are working tirelessly to ensure that providers can care for their patients and run their practices, and that patients can get their medications. We're determined to make this right as fast as possible."

Based on our ongoing investigation, there is no indication that any other UnitedHealth Group systems have been affected by this attack.

To address the needs of our customers, the company is announcing the following immediate actions:

Timeline to Restore Change Healthcare Systems

We are working aggressively on the restoration of our systems and services. Assuming we continue at our current rate of progress, we expect our key system functionality to be restored and available on the following timelines:

   --  Pharmacy services: Electronic prescribing is now fully functional with       claim submission and payment transmission also available as of today. We       have taken action to make sure patients can access their medicines in the       meantime, including Optum Rx pharmacies sending members their medications       based on the date needed.    --  Payments platform: Electronic payment functionality will be available       for connection beginning March 15.    --  Medical claims: We expect to begin testing and reestablish connectivity       to our claims network and software on March 18, restoring service through       that week. 

While we work to restore these systems, we strongly recommend our provider and payer clients use the applicable workarounds we have established--in particular, using our new iEDI claim submission system in the interest of system redundancy given the current environment.

Continued Funding Support for Community-Based Providers

On March 1, Optum launched a Temporary Funding Assistance Program to help bridge the gap in short-term cash flow needs for providers who received payments from payers that were processed by Change Healthcare.

UnitedHealthcare will provide further funding solutions for its provider partners. This applies to medical, dental and vision providers and will involve advancing funds each week representing the difference between their historical payment levels and the payment levels post attack. Advances will not need to be repaid until claims flows have fully resumed. Providers must complete a one-time registration to access funding.

We urge all payers to do the same as this is the fastest, most efficient way to address provider short-term cash flow needs. UnitedHealthcare does not have visibility to the extent of business interruption for each provider; therefore, it is necessary for other payers to participate in a similar manner.

We recognize these programs will not work for everyone. Beyond UnitedHealthcare's provider funding relief, Optum is expanding its funding program to include providers who have exhausted all available connection options, and who work with a payer who has opted not to advance funds to providers during the period when Change Healthcare systems remain down.

This expansion is a funding mechanism of last resort, especially for small and regional providers, and will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. An Optum Pay account is required to complete registration and to receive funds and repay funds. Use your existing Optum Pay account or sign up for Optum Pay to login.

For those who receive funding support, there are no fees, interest or other associated costs with the assistance. For repayment, providers will receive an invoice once standard payment operations resume and will have 30 days to return the funds. These terms now apply to both the original and expanded funding programs.

To determine eligibility and funding amount, please register for the program at the website: www.optum.com/temporaryfunding.

Additional Consumer Actions

For Medicare Advantage plans, including Dual Special Needs Plans, we are temporarily suspending prior authorizations for most outpatient services except for Durable Medical Equipment, cosmetic procedures and Part B step therapies. We also are temporarily suspending utilization review for MA inpatient admissions.

For Medicare Part D pharmacy benefits, we are temporarily suspending drug formulary exception review processes.

These actions will remain in place until March 31. We will work with state Medicaid agencies on any actions they wish to implement.

Prescription Support

As of today, all major pharmacy claims and payment systems are back up and functioning. We have taken action to make sure patients can access their medicines in the meantime, including Optum Rx pharmacies sending members their medications based on the date needed.

Additionally, recognizing that we were asking pharmacies to take action to help patients, Optum Rx PBM notified network pharmacy partners and pharmacy associations that we would reimburse all appropriate pharmacy claims filled with the good faith understanding that a medication would be covered. We continue to focus on those remaining areas of pharmacy disruption, including specialty coupon programs and certain claims for infusion providers.

For more information and access to all solutions provided by UnitedHealth Group, visit http://www.uhg.com/changehealthcarecyberresponse.

Please see the latest update from HHS regarding the Change Healthcare Cybersecurity  situation: 

https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2024/03/05/hhs-statement-regarding-the-cyberattack-on-change-healthcare.html

HHS Statement Regarding the Cyberattack on Change Healthcare

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is aware that Change Healthcare – a unit of UnitedHealth Group (UHG) – was impacted by a cybersecurity incident in late February. HHS recognizes the impact this attack has had on health care operations across the country. HHS' first priority is to help coordinate efforts to avoid disruptions to care throughout the health care system.

HHS is in regular contact with UHG leadership, state partners, and with numerous external stakeholders to better understand the nature of the impacts and to ensure the effectiveness of UHG's response. HHS has made clear its expectation that UHG does everything in its power to ensure continuity of operations for all health care providers impacted and HHS appreciates UHG's continuous efforts to do so. HHS is also leading interagency coordination of the Federal government's related activities, including working closely with the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the White House, and other agencies to provide credible, actionable threat intelligence to industry wherever possible.

HHS refers directly to UHG for updates on their incident response progress and recovery planning. However, numerous hospitals, doctors, pharmacies and other stakeholders have highlighted potential cash flow concerns to HHS stemming from an inability to submit claims and receive payments. HHS has heard these concerns and is taking direct action and working to support the important needs of the health care community.

Today, HHS is announcing immediate steps that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is taking to assist providers to continue to serve patients. CMS will continue to communicate with the health care community and assist, as appropriate. Providers should continue to work with all their payers for the latest updates on how to receive timely payments.

Affected parties should be aware of the following flexibilities in place:

• Medicare providers needing to change clearinghouses that they use for claims processing during these outages should contact their Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) to request a new electronic data interchange (EDI) enrollment for the switch. The MAC will provide instructions based on the specific request to expedite the new EDI enrollment. CMS has instructed the MACs to expedite this process and move all provider and facility requests into production and ready to bill claims quickly. CMS is strongly encouraging other payers, including state Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) agencies and Medicaid and CHIP managed care plans, to waive or expedite solutions for this requirement.
• CMS will issue guidance to Medicare Advantage (MA) organizations and Part D sponsors encouraging them to remove or relax prior authorization, other utilization management, and timely filing requirements during these system outages. CMS is also encouraging MA plans to offer advance funding to providers most affected by this cyberattack.
• CMS strongly encourages Medicaid and CHIP managed care plans to adopt the same strategies of removing or relaxing prior authorization and utilization management requirements, and consider offering advance funding to providers, on behalf of Medicaid and CHIP managed care enrollees to the extent permitted by the State. 

• If Medicare providers are having trouble filing claims or other necessary notices or other submissions, they should contact their MAC for details on exceptions, waivers, or extensions, or contact CMS regarding quality reporting programs.

• CMS has contacted all of the MACs to make sure they are prepared to accept paper claims from providers who need to file them. While we recognize that electronic billing is preferable for everyone, the MACs must accept paper submissions if a provider needs to file claims in that method.

CMS has also heard from providers about the availability of accelerated payments, like those issued during the COVID-19 pandemic. We understand that many payers are making funds available while billing systems are offline, and providers should take advantage of those opportunities. However, CMS recognizes that hospitals may face significant cash flow problems from the unusual circumstances impacting hospitals' operations, and – during outages arising from this event – facilities may submit accelerated payment requests to their respective servicing MACs for individual consideration. We are working to provide additional information to the MACs about the specific items and information a provider's request should contain. Specific information will be available from the MACs later this week.

This incident is a reminder of the interconnectedness of the domestic health care ecosystem and of the urgency of strengthening cybersecurity resiliency across the ecosystem. That's why, in December 2023, HHS released a concept paper that outlines the Department's cybersecurity strategy for the sector. The concept paper builds on the National Cybersecurity Strategy that President Biden released last year, focusing specifically on strengthening resilience for hospitals, patients, and communities threatened by cyber-attacks. The paper details four pillars for action, including publishing new voluntary health care-specific cybersecurity performance goals, working with Congress to develop supports and incentives for domestic hospitals to improve cybersecurity, increasing accountability within the health care sector, and enhancing coordination through a one-stop shop.

HHS will continue to communicate with the health care sector and encourage continued dialogue among affected parties. We will continue to communicate with UHG, closely monitor their ongoing response to this cyberattack, and promote transparent, robust response while working with the industry to close any gaps that remain.

HHS also takes this opportunity to encourage all providers, technology vendors, and members of the health care ecosystem to double down on cybersecurity, with urgency. The system and the American people can ill afford further disruptions in care. Please visit the HPH Cyber Performance Goals website for more details on steps to stay protected.

Please see the post from Change Healthcare regarding Temporary Funding Assistance:

https://www.optum.com/en/business/providers/health-systems/payments-lending-solutions/optum-pay/temporary-funding-assistance.html

Temporary Funding Assistance

Change Healthcare processes payments for many payers and those systems were impacted.

We understand the urgency of resuming payment operations and continuing the flow of payments through the health care ecosystem. While we are working to resume standard payment operations, we recognize that some providers who receive payments from payers that were processed by Change Healthcare, may need more immediate access to funding.   

We are mobilizing Optum Financial Services to help our Change Healthcare colleagues and customers support the most impacted providers.  

For provider organizations impacted by that payer system outage, we've established a temporary funding assistance support program to help with short-term cash flow needs. You can now choose to receive short-term temporary funding assistance from us.

Once standard payment operations resume, the funds will simply need to be repaid.  We have been able to estimate your average weekly payments, which will be the basis for the support. Our plan is to take this week by week with people re-upping for funding each week as needs persist. 

For clarity, this is not a program for providers who have had claims submission disruptions but rather for those whose payment distribution has been impacted.

 To determine eligibility and funding amount, you must register for the program. An Optum Pay account is required to complete registration and to receive funds and repay funds. Use your existing Optum Pay account or sign-up for Optum Pay to log-in.

Please see the post from Change Healthcare regarding Temporary Funding Assistance:

https://www.optum.com/en/business/providers/health-systems/payments-lending-solutions/optum-pay/temporary-funding-assistance.html

Temporary Funding Assistance

Change Healthcare processes payments for many payers and those systems were impacted.

We understand the urgency of resuming payment operations and continuing the flow of payments through the health care ecosystem. While we are working to resume standard payment operations, we recognize that some providers who receive payments from payers that were processed by Change Healthcare, may need more immediate access to funding.   

We are mobilizing Optum Financial Services to help our Change Healthcare colleagues and customers support the most impacted providers.  

For provider organizations impacted by that payer system outage, we've established a temporary funding assistance support program to help with short-term cash flow needs. You can now choose to receive short-term temporary funding assistance from us.

Once standard payment operations resume, the funds will simply need to be repaid.  We have been able to estimate your average weekly payments, which will be the basis for the support. Our plan is to take this week by week with people re-upping for funding each week as needs persist. 

For clarity, this is not a program for providers who have had claims submission disruptions but rather for those whose payment distribution has been impacted.

 To determine eligibility and funding amount, you must register for the program. An Optum Pay account is required to complete registration and to receive funds and repay funds. Use your existing Optum Pay account or sign-up for Optum Pay to log-in.