Attorney General urges UnitedHealth Group to take action after cyberattack

In response to the recent catastrophic outage of Change Healthcare following a cyberattack, Attorney General William Tong has joined a bipartisan coalition of 22 attorneys general urging UnitedHealth Group, Inc. to take action and better protect providers, pharmacies and patients nationwide.

Change Healthcare, a critical component of the healthcare infrastructure, suffered a cyberattack on Feb. 21, 2024, resulting in serious damage to care infrastructure.

Providers, pharmacies and facilities have struggled to verify coverage, process claims and obtain reimbursements, while patients have faced delays in accessing essential services and medications.

As the largest health insurer in the nation and the parent company of Change Healthcare, UnitedHealth Group is responsible for mitigating the aftermath of the cyber incident.

Tong emphasized the urgent need for measures to protect healthcare infrastructure and assist impacted providers.

"The consequences of the Change Healthcare cyberattack have been nothing short of catastrophic for healthcare providers in Connecticut and nationwide. The response from Change and UnitedHealth Group has been inadequate. I join attorneys general nationwide in calling on Change and UnitedHealth Group to take immediate, aggressive action to protect our critical healthcare infrastructure and aid impacted providers," Tong said.

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The coalition's letter to UnitedHealth Group outlined specific actions to alleviate the harm caused by the outage, including expanding financial assistance to affected entities, ensuring equitable distribution of aid and safeguarding sensitive business information.

Furthermore, the coalition urged UnitedHealth Group to suspend burdensome requirements such as prior authorizations and to establish dedicated support channels for affected parties.

Transparency regarding compromised data and proactive steps to mitigate future risks were also emphasized.

Despite the magnitude of the cyberattack, UnitedHealth Group reported substantial profits in 2023, according to the Attorney General's Office.

You can read the full letter here.