Triangle pharmacies trying to mitigate damage from UnitedHealth cyberattack

Pharmacies in the Triangle told WRAL News Tuesday night they’re continuing to have trouble filling prescriptions following a February cyber attack on UnitedHealth.

According to regulatory filings on Feb. 21, UnitedHealth's Change Healthcare business, which is responsible for processing prescriptions for thousands of pharmacies, was compromised by hackers who gained access to their systems.

The attack prevented pharmacies from processing prescriptions to insurance companies.

At the time, the company said they expected the attack to last through Feb. 22. GoodRx, which offers discounts on prescriptions, said its services were also affected.

Senthiel Radhakraishnan, who runs Raleigh Pharmacy, said the attack is a big impact depending on the company the pharmacy uses.

In the wake of the breach, the American Hospital Association recommended medical facilities to disconnect from UnitedHealth's network until the issue was resolved, citing a concern for further data breaches.

Radhakraishnan said he’s fortunate the impact on his pharmacy was minimal.

“Luckily, they are not in a rush to get the medicine. [So] they can wait a day or two,” Radhakraishnan said, adding he would provide people affected by the attack a temporary prescription to get them through a couple of days.

While pharmacies try to minimize the impact, residents are disgusted this scam could hurt those who need their medicine now.

“It’s terrible when you think about our seniors because of the scam,” Denise Slaughter said.

In its filing with the SEC, UnitedHealth said they believe hackers paid by another country could be responsible for the attack.

“UnitedHealth Group identified a suspected nation-state associated cyber security threat actor had gained access to some of the Change Healthcare information technology systems,” the company said. “Immediately upon detection of this outside threat, the company proactively isolated the impacted systems from other connecting systems in the interest of protecting our partners and patients, to contain, assess and remediate the incident.”

Change Healthcare said it believed the attack was isolated to its network and did not spread.

Meanwhile, Senior officials with the Biden administration pressed the CEO of UnitedHealth and other health firms to get vital payments to healthcare providers affected by the attack.