Pharmacy orders impacted by cyberattack

Orders at several pharmacies have been delayed after a cyberattack was detected at UnitedHealth’s technology unit, Change Healthcare.

The company said issues began Wednesday afternoon and some applications were unavailable. In a post later on Wednesday, Change Healthcare said it was experiencing network interruptions related to cybersecurity issues.

Security experts “took immediate action” once the company was aware of the outside threat to protect the interests of its partners and patients.

The cybersecurity threat is ongoing as of Friday morning. The company said it believes the issue is specific only to Change Healthcare and no other systems across UnitedHealth Group, the parent company, have been affected. It did not disclose the specific nature of the incident.

“The disruption is expected to last at least through the day. We will provide updates as more information becomes available,” the most recent status update said.

Several pharmacy chains said the outage was affecting their business.

CVS Health said that the interruption is impacting “certain” CVS business operations, but there is “no indication” that CVS systems have been compromised. 

“We’re committed to ensuring access to care as we navigate through this interruption. We have business continuity plans in place to minimize disruption of service and apologize for any inconvenience our customers and members may experience,” the company said in an emailed statement. 

CVS said it is continuing to fill prescriptions but was unable to process insurance claims “in certain cases.”

Walgreens said a vast majority of prescriptions and its pharmacy operations are “not being impacted by this third-party issue.” 

“For the small percentage that may be affected, we have procedures in place so that we can continue to process and fill these prescriptions with minimal delay or interruption,” Walgreens said in an emailed statement.

Some users complained online that Publix Super Markets had issues when they tried to fill their prescriptions. GoodRX and BlueCross BlueShield also flagged disruptions, and so did independent pharmacies, Reuters reported.

TechCrunch reported about the hack and noted that in 2022, UnitedHealth Group completed its merger of healthcare services Optum with Change Healthcare in a nearly $8 billion deal, which allowed Optum access to tens of millions of American patient records.

The Hill has reached out to UnitedHealth Group for comment about the ongoing disruption.

Updated 1:27 p.m. ET.