White House meets with UnitedHealth Group to discuss Change Healthcare cyberattack

UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty and other health-care industry leaders met with White House officials earlier this week to discuss the cyberattack against Change Healthcare, which has disrupted the health-care sector for three weeks.

Witt sought to reassure attendees about UnitedHealth’s efforts to address the crisis and outlined the company’s response. “We are committed to providing relief for people affected by this malicious attack on the U.S. health system,” he said in an earlier statement.

Xavier Becerra, secretary of Health and Human Services, and domestic policy advisor Neera Tanden stressed that the government and the industry need to work together to support providers and that insurers should help providers as they face mounting financial strain. Becerra, Tanden and other administration officials urged Witty and other health industry leaders to make more emergency funding available to affected health-care providers, according to reports, as concrete actions were discussed to mitigate the harm caused to patients and providers.

Representatives from various health-care organizations, including the American Hospital Association and the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations, also attended the meeting. Government officials, including Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, discussed forthcoming guidance to state Medicaid officials aimed at providing flexibility in supporting affected providers.

Providers noted gaps in the response from payers, saying they need more immediate payment options, direct communication and relaxed billing and claims processing requirements. Administration officials called on payers to cut red tape and offer advance payments and other funding opportunities. Providers have reported a range of challenges since the outage began, including problems receiving payment from patients and insurers; verifying coverage; submitting prior authorization requests; and exchanging clinical records.

Change Healthcare processes 15 billion health-care transactions each year and touches one in every three patient records nationwide. Last week, UnitedHealth said electronic payments are expected to come back online beginning March 15 that it will start testing its claims network and software on March 18.

The American Medical Association, in a letter to HHS and the Department of Labor, urged the government to build upon the payment program and address other provider concerns. The group asked regulators to build an inventory of health plans that offer advance payments and ensure that Medicare administrative contractors accept paper claims and waive deadlines for filing claims and appeals, among other requests.

Related: UnitedHealth’s crippling cyberattack: Are the feds doing enough to restore systems?

Anne Neuberger, White House deputy national security advisor for cyber and emerging technologies, encouraged the health-care sector to build resilience against attacks by implementing the HHS’ voluntary cybersecurity performance goals, noting the interconnectedness of the industry.  Earlier this week, the Biden administration proposed its fiscal year 2025 budget that includes funds to help hospitals build up their cyber protections, as well as penalties for those that don’t follow requirements.