US prescription market hamstrung for 9 days (to date) by ransomware assault

US prescription market hamstrung for 9 days (so far) by ransomware attack

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9 days after a Russian-speaking ransomware syndicate took down the most important US well being care fee processor, pharmacies, well being care suppliers, and sufferers had been nonetheless scrambling to fill prescriptions for medicines, a lot of that are lifesaving.

On Thursday, UnitedHealth Group accused a infamous ransomware gang identified each as AlphV and Black Cat of hacking its subsidiary Optum. Optum gives a nationwide community referred to as Change Healthcare, which permits well being care suppliers to handle buyer funds and insurance coverage claims. With no simple manner for pharmacies to calculate what prices had been coated by insurance coverage firms, many needed to flip to different providers or offline strategies.

Essentially the most critical incident of its sort

Optum first disclosed on February 21 that its providers had been down because of a “cyber safety difficulty.” Its service has been hamstrung ever since. Shortly earlier than this publish went stay on Ars, Optum mentioned it had restored Change Healthcare providers.

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