On February 21, 2024, a severe cyberattack was discovered by UnitedHealth's Change Healthcare, causing extensive disruptions in healthcare services and claims processing. UnitedHealth Group promptly disconnected the affected systems to mitigate the attack and introduced a loan program to assist providers during the outage. They recommend that providers use alternative methods and manual workarounds for claims and authorizations during this period.

The following resource is intended to assist in communications with providers, members, partners and/or stakeholders who may be interested in the latest updates and resources available to support providers, pharmacies and patients in responding to questions and concerns.

• Kathleen A. Birrane The Maryland Insurance Commissioner gave an update on the Maryland response to the Change Healthcare situation and answered questions:

• MedChi letter to U.S. House Representatives Re: Change Healthcare

Cyber Security in Medicine Webinar

• Click here for the meeting recording here

• For new users who'd like to view it, they will still need to "register" for it by entering their first and last name, and email address. After that they will be brought right into the recording. 

Maryland Total Cost of Care Agreement (2018)

• Please click here.

Relevant Data Reports

• The Complexities of Physician Supply and Demand: Projections From 2021 to 2036
• Primary Care Shortage in Medically Underserved and Health Provider Shortage Areas: Lessons from Delaware, USA
• Evaluation of the Maryland Total Cost of Care Model: Quantitative-Only Report for the Model’s First Three Years (2019 to 2021)
• Balancing Efficiency and Access: Discouraging Emergency Department Boarding in a Global Budget System
• Slides from the April 3, 2024 MDPCP Advisory Council Meeting
• Primary Care Physicians In Medicare Advantage Were Less Costly, Provided Similar Quality Versus Regional Average
• Higher Rates Of Emergency Surgery, Serious Complications, And Readmissions In Primary Care Shortage Areas, 2015–19

Resources

American Medical Association

• AMA continues physician-focused advocacy initiatives to address Change Healthcare cyberattack
  With the substantial impact of the Change Healthcare cyberattack on physician practices, the AMA’s advocacy work continues at all levels of government and across the payer community to find workable solutions that allow practices to maintain financial stability while providing timely patient care.
• The AMA has a website on the Change Healthcare cybersecurity issue that outlines the latest developments, information for physician practices, and related AMA advocacy.

• Based on AMA advocacy and ongoing concern with the impact the Change Healthcare cybersecurity attack is having on physician practices, CMS has extended the 2023 MIPS data submission deadline until April 15. Notably, this attack on our nation’s health care infrastructure coincides with the 2023 MIPS data submission window, which opened on January 2 and originally was scheduled to close on April 1.

   

  The AMA welcomes this extension until April 15, but we are concerned the timeline is insufficient. Therefore, we will continue to push CMS to automatically apply the Extreme and Uncontrollable Circumstances (EUC) hardship exception to all MIPS eligible clinicians for the 2023 performance period. Alternatively, we will encourage CMS to reopen the hardship exception application for the 2023 performance period and allow eligible clinicians to claim an exception due to the Change Healthcare cyberattack.

• March 14, 2024:  Change Healthcare cyber outage

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

• On March 13, CMS published FAQs related to the Change Healthcare/Optum payment disruption accelerated and advance payments. These go into detail about what services qualify for accelerated and advance payments, application criteria, terms of repayment, financial concerns, and other topics.

Health and Human Services

• March 25, 2024: Resources for Providers in Response to the Change Healthcare Cyberattack
• March 25, 2024: Signed letter to Healthcare Provider Community
• March 5, 2024: HHS Statement Regarding the Cyberattack on Change Healthcare

Healthcare Leaders Association of Maryland

• June 17, 2024: CMS Preparing to Close Program that Addressed Medicare Funding Issues Resulting from Change Healthcare Cyber-Attack

   

Maryland Department of Health

• For Change Healthcare Cybersecurity Incident Updates, please click here.

Maryland Insurance Administration

• Provider Advisory

United Health Group

• For Information on the Change Healthcare Cybersecurity Response, please click here.
• February 29, 2024: UnitedHealth's Change Healthcare Faces Weeks-Long Outage After Cyberattack, Disrupting U.S. Healthcare Services