Practice Management
Change Healthcare Cyberattack
This page has information and resources for clinicians impacted by the Change Healthcare Cyberattack.
Change Healthcare Cyberattack Information
On February 21st, Change Healthcare began to experience a cyberattack that has subsequently impacted the payment of claims for patients around the country, including for clinicians treating patients with addiction.
Below are a list of key dates and actions that the Biden Administration has taken in the days and weeks following this cyberattack.
March 5: The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a that acknowledge the cyberattack and made impacted parties aware of a number of actions HHS was taking to mitigate the attack, including:
- Enhanced flexibilities to change payment clearinghouses;
- Notification of forthcoming guidance to Medicare Advantage (MA) organizations and Part D sponsors encouraging them to remove or relax utilization management controls;
- Encouragement to Medicaid and CHIP managed care plans to adopt the same strategies of removing or relaxing utilization management requirements and provide advance funding for impacted providers; and
- Preparing Medicare Administrative Contractors to accept paper claims.
March 10: HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra penned a to health care industry leaders encouraging them to take a number of steps, including:
- Providing interim payments to impacted providers;
- Simplifying electronic data interchange requirements and timelines and by accepting paper claims; and
- Pausing prior authorizations and other utilization management requirements.
March 12: Biden Administration leaders of the health care industry to discuss the cyberattack and ways to mitigate harms to patient and providers.
March 13: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a list of regarding accelerated and advance payments for Part A providers and Part B suppliers.
March 18: CMS reopened the 2023 MIPS Extreme and Uncontrollable Circumstances (EUC) hardship application. The deadline to apply for an exemption is April 15, 2024. If a physician or practice has already submitted data and would like to take advantage of this flexibility, it requires logging into the and updating the submission.
March 19: A bipartisan group of US House of Representatives members sent a to HHS asking the agency to go further in its response to the cyberattack.
Additional information:
- CMS on Accelerated and Advance Payments for Impacted Clinicians
- Physician from the American Medical Association
If you have additional questions or concerns, please contact SA国际传媒at advocacy@asam.org.
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