BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – A cyberattack has impacted one of the largest healthcare technology companies in the United States.
UnitedHealth disclosed the cyberattack on its Change Healthcare in a regulatory filing. The cyber attack against a division of UnitedHealth Group reportedly caused a nationwide outage of a computer network used to transmit data between health care providers and insurance companies. Pharmacies around the country are having trouble processing some prescriptions.
KBTX looked into whether the incident was impacting the Brazos Valley.
Goldstar pharmacy in Bryan returned our call, saying they have had no problems, but are investigating and watching.
Also, only one B/CS hospital got back to KBTX.
Baylor Scott & White Health sent a statement:
The Baylor Scott & White network has not been impacted by the Change Healthcare cybersecurity incident. Upon learning about the nationwide disruption, we immediately severed known connections identified by Change Healthcare as at risk or potentially involved with the issues. We continue to closely monitor and keep our team members informed.
Optum, the I-T company for Change Healthcare is giving updates online.
The latest update as of Friday said “Change Healthcare is experiencing a cyber security issue, and our experts are working to address the matter. Once we became aware of the outside threat, and in the interest of protecting our partners and patients, we took immediate action to disconnect Change Healthcare’s systems to prevent further impact. This action was taken so our customers and partners do not need to. We have a high-level of confidence that Optum, UnitedHealthcare and UnitedHealth Group systems have not been affected by this issue.
We are working on multiple approaches to restore the impacted environment and will not take any shortcuts or take any additional risk as we bring our systems back online. We will continue to be proactive and aggressive with all our systems and if we suspect any issue with the system, we will immediately take action and disconnect. The disruption is expected to last at least through the day. We will provide updates as more information becomes available. “
The American Hospital Association has recommended all health care organizations potentially exposed, to consider disconnection from the UnitedHealth Groups system.
Identity theft experts say data breaches are on the rise.
The Identity Theft Resource Center says consumers need to take preventative steps.
They advise having a unique password for every website and app.
They also say freezing your credit can prevent criminals from opening credit cards or other accounts in your name.
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