- A cyber attack left pharmacies across the country unable to process prescriptions
- UnitedHealth said the attack came from a ‘suspicious nation state’
- READ MORE: What caused the nationwide AT&T outage? Experts weigh in
A cyberattack on a UnitedHealth unit has left pharmacies across the country unable to deliver prescriptions to patients.
The company said in a regulatory filing On Thursday, it was announced that its Change Healthcare unit, which processes prescriptions for tens of thousands of pharmacies across the country, was compromised by a “suspected national state-associated cybersecurity threat.”
The hack began Wednesday and prevented several pharmacies from processing prescriptions for insurance companies.
It’s unclear exactly how many pharmacies or patients are affected, but UnitedHealth is the nation’s largest health insurer, serving about 7.7 million customers.
A cyberattack on a UnitedHealth unit has left pharmacies across the country unable to deliver prescriptions to patients
The incident coincided with a nationwide mobile outage at AT&T on Thursday, leaving more than 70,000 customers without cell service.
Several prescription providers announced that they had been affected by the hack.
CVS Health, which has more than 9,000 pharmacies, said the hack prevented it from processing insurance claims “in certain cases.”
“We are committed to ensuring access to care as we navigate this disruption,” the company’s statement said. A spokesperson for the chain did not immediately provide further details.
Walgreens, which serves nine million customers, said a “small percentage” of prescriptions “may be impacted” but that the company had taken precautions to process and fulfill them “with minimal delay or disruption.”
The company said it had no additional information about the incident.
Publix Super Markets did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but on social media some users complained about problems filling their prescriptions.
“This is a nationwide disruption,” Publix said in a response to a user on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Other companies, including GoodRX and Montana-based BlueCross BlueShield, also flagged possible disruptions on social media.
“We apologize for any disruptions you may have experienced during your visit to the pharmacy,” GoodRx wrote on X.
“Unfortunately, it is an external issue that affects both GoodRx and a large number of providers.”
“Our team is aware of the issue and is working to ensure it is resolved. We appreciate your patience!’
Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton, a military health care system in California, wrote about
“We can only serve patients with emergency and emergency prescriptions from hospital providers at this time.”
The hospital’s website states that “Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton and associated pharmacies will be dispensing outpatient prescriptions through a manual process until this issue is resolved.”
“Priority will be given to urgent prescriptions, followed by routine prescriptions, as crew and resources permit.”
Independent pharmacies also reported problems.
“Please be patient with us and all pharmacies affected by this,” Dayton Drug and Wellness, a community pharmacy in Dayton, Tennessee, wrote on its Facebook page.
“There are/will be delays until this is resolved,” Skippack Pharmacy in Skippack, Pennsylvania, said in another post on Facebook. “Pharmacies across the country are being affected.”
“There are/will be delays until this is resolved,” Skippack Pharmacy in Skippack, Pennsylvania, said in another post on Facebook. “Pharmacies across the country are being affected.”