Change Healthcare Breach: What We Know Now

March 14, 2024

BREAKING NEWS! Your friends at Abyde are right back at you with an update on the Change Healthcare breach.

Check out our first blog post on the breach here! 

Now, to quickly bring you up to speed, Change Healthcare, a division of United Healthcare, was impacted by a ransomware attack. This ransomware attack is like nothing we’ve ever seen, and being called the most significant attack on our healthcare system of all time. 

This ransomware attack was disastrous, taking Change Healthcare systems offline, and making it impossible for healthcare providers to check for insurance eligibility, see new patients, properly process prescriptions correctly, and much more. 

Now, it’s been several weeks since the initial attack, and we have the latest scoop for you. 

What’s going on now? 

Well, now here comes the fallout. While some of the systems have been able to get back online, like pharmacy functions, Change Healthcare is still not 100%. This has been detrimental to healthcare providers, and is costing them $100 million a day! Now, I know that’s gotta hurt. 

Now, the lawsuits are starting to roll in. Now, multiple class action lawsuits have been filed against Change Healthcare/United Healthcare due to its inadequate security systems and how it’s been handled. 

Unfortunately, in this attack, it’s highly likely Protected Health Information (PHI) is in the hands of criminals. In this ransomware attack, over six TB of stolen data was encrypted by the deceptive hackers. So, these lawsuits are just getting started. 

The government is also involved in this breach, investigating the causes and effects of the ransomware attack. The FBI has run into this group of hackers before and has taken some of their servers offline, causing many to think this attack was of vengeance. 

The Department of Health and Human Services also came together to discuss and address the impact of the cyber attack for more to come. As of yesterday, March 13, the Office of Civil Rights also released a statement of beginning their investigation of the attack. 

It’s safe to say this is far from over, and it’s been a tough month for United Healthcare. 

What should I do? 

To keep up with the news, we recommend you follow our news page, where we release the newest updates in compliance news and the best tips for your practice or business. 

To keep up with the Change Healthcare system updates, you can follow this page here. 

To keep your practice or business safe, and avoid this hot water that United Healthcare found itself in, it is essential for you to proactively protect your organization. This includes working with an IT company, employing firewalls, encryption, and of course, having compliance software like Abyde. 

Abyde is your one-stop shop when it comes to compliance management, allowing you to evaluate your risks and address them before it’s too late. Need documentation in order? Yeah, all in the software. Oh and – let me stop you right there, yes, we also dynamically generate our personalized policies and procedures, so don’t worry about writing them. 

And if you experience a breach? We’re here for you. We have an awesome team of compliance experts here to help you navigate any situation, so you’re not alone. 

Want to learn more about compliance? Reach out to us at info@abyde.com and schedule a compliance consultation here for Covered Entities, and here for Business Associates! 

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