UnitedHealth Cyberattack Prompts Urgent Government Action: Investigation Underway

On Wednesday, in response to the recent cyberattack affecting UnitedHealth Group’s UNH Change Healthcare and numerous other entities within the healthcare sector, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a crucial advisory. 

The U.S. agency has opened an investigation into the cyber-attack, which disrupted critical health care and billing operations nationwide.

“Given the unprecedented magnitude of this cyberattack, and in the best interest of patients and health care providers, OCR is initiating an investigation into this incident. OCR’s investigation of Change Healthcare and UHG will focus on whether a breach of protected health information occurred and Change Healthcare’s and UHG’s compliance with the HIPAA Rules,” the HHS Office of Civil Rights said.

Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) appealed to President Biden on Monday to help address the payment crisis, saying that rural hospitals in her state were hard-hit by the Change Healthcare outage and that the company’s financial response continued to be insufficient, the Washington Post noted citing the letter her office shared.

Biden administration officials have called upon UnitedHealth to take decisive action to stabilize the U.S. health system and expedite emergency funding for affected providers.

Despite UnitedHealth’s announcement of a timeline to restore its network by March 18, healthcare leaders brace for prolonged disruptions. 

Highlighting the alarming trend, OCR revealed a staggering increase in cyber threats within the healthcare domain. 

Over the past half-decade, there has been a 256% surge in significant breaches attributed to hacking, alongside a 264% rise in ransomware incidents. 

Notably, in 2023, hacking accounted for a staggering 79% of reported large breaches, affecting over 134 million individuals—an alarming 141% increase from the previous year.

The ramifications of these cyber intrusions extend far beyond financial losses, impacting the very fabric of patient care and trust in the healthcare system. 

Price Action: UNH shares are down 0.30% at $487.89 on the last check Wednesday.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.