US pharmacies hit by cyber security crisis

TLDR:

Pharmacies across America were down due to a cyberattack on IT provider Change Healthcare, resulting in disrupted prescription orders and services. The issue began on Wednesday, prompting the company to disconnect their systems to prevent further impact. Pharmacies like CVS and Athenahealth were affected, forcing some customers to pay full price for medications in cash.

Key Points:

• Change Healthcare, a major IT provider, experienced a cyberattack leading to the shutdown of its systems.
• Pharmacies nationwide, including CVS and Athenahealth, were unable to process prescription orders and insurance claims due to the disruption.
• Customers resorted to paying full price in cash for medications as a result of the cyber security issue.

Full Article:

IT provider Change Healthcare confirmed a cyberattack that caused the shutdown of its systems, impacting pharmacies nationwide. The company, handling 15 billion healthcare transactions annually, disconnected its systems to prevent further impact from the threat. This disruption led to pharmacies like CVS and Athenahealth being unable to process prescriptions and insurance claims, forcing some individuals to pay in cash for medication.

Healthcare execs like David Chou also faced challenges with the outage, having to pay cash price for prescriptions at CVS until the system was restored. Meanwhile, Michigan’s Scheurer Health and Publix pharmacies reported similar disruptions in prescription processing due to the Change Healthcare cyber security issue.

UnitedHealth, the parent company of Change Healthcare, disclosed to the stock market that a suspected nation-state associated cyber threat actor was responsible for the attack. The company is actively working to restore systems and resume normal operations, though the duration of the disruption remains uncertain at this time.

The FBI declined to comment on the matter, as pharmacies and healthcare providers continue to navigate the impact of the cyber security issue on prescription orders and services across the United States.