UnitedHealth Group Inc. headquarters stands in Minnetonka, Minnesota, U.S.
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Change Healthcare’s systems are down for a fourth straight day after parent company UnitedHealth Group disclosed that a suspected cybersecurity threat actor gained access to a part of its information technology network on Wednesday.
UnitedHealth, the largest health-care company within the U.S. by market cap, owns the health-care provider Optum, which merged with Change Healthcare in 2022. Optum services greater than 100 million patients within the U.S., in accordance with its website, and Change Healthcare offers solutions for payment and revenue cycle management.
UnitedHealth said it identified a “suspected nation-state-associated” actor behind the attack, in accordance with a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday. The corporate isolated and disconnected the impacted systems “immediately upon detection” of the threat, the filing said. UnitedHealth didn’t share any more details in regards to the nature of the attack within the filing.
In an update at around 2 p.m. ET Saturday, Change Healthcare said the disruption is predicted to proceed “at the least” through the day. The corporate said Friday that it has a high level of confidence that Optum, UnitedHealthcare and UnitedHealth systems haven’t been impacted.
“We’re working on multiple approaches to revive the impacted environment and won’t take any shortcuts or take any additional risk as we bring our systems back online,” Change Healthcare said Saturday.
UnitedHealth didn’t share any additional information with CNBC beyond the update.
While UnitedHealth didn’t specify exactly which Change Healthcare systems were impacted by the attack in its regulatory filing, firms like CVS Health said the interruption is impacting a few of its business operations.
CVS Health is constant to fill prescriptions, nevertheless it isn’t in a position to process insurance claims in certain cases, the corporate told CNBC in a press release on Saturday. CVS Health said there’s “no indication” that its own systems have been compromised.
“We’re committed to making sure access to care as we navigate through this interruption,” CVS Health said within the statement.
The American Hospital Association released a press release Thursday urging health-care organizations to disconnect from Optum until it’s deemed secure to reconnect. The AHA said it has been talking with the Department of Health and Human Services, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in regards to the attack, in accordance with the statement.
The AHA declined to comment on the Change Healthcare cyberattack. The FBI, HHS and CISA didn’t return CNBC’s requests for comment.