© 2024 NPR Illinois
The Capital's Community & News Service
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Bills are piling up after a cyber attack on UnitedHealth Group

A sign outside of a CVS pharmacy store in Miami, Florida.
A sign outside of a CVS pharmacy store in Miami, Florida.

A cyber attack on one of the biggest healthcare companies in the U.S. is disrupting pharmacies and hospitals throughout the country. 

Change Healthcare is owned by UnitedHealth Group, the biggest processor of medical claims in the nation. The unpaid bills are piling up — and doctors and pharmacists are warning that the disruption is harming their ability to work.

The Department of Health and Human Services released a plan encouraging private health funding to the organizations hardest hit by the hack. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said it is considering going back to a pandemic-era plan of accelerated payments for individuals. 

How far can help from those federal agencies go? And what does this attack reveal about the security of the largest healthcare companies in the U.S.?

Copyright 2024 WAMU 88.5

Arfie Ghedi