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Managing her husband’s medication is a daily routine for Sonja Horan, but Thursday morning presented unexpected challenges, starting with a call to the pharmacy.
“They said, ‘Well, we have a problem. Our systems have been down since yesterday morning and we’re not getting anything electronically,’” Horan recounted.
Upon the doctor faxing the request, Horan followed up with another call.
“The pharmacy said, ‘Yes. We did get it, but the problem is we can’t process anything through insurance’,” she explained.
On Friday, Horan attempted once more to resolve the issue.
“I called first thing at nine o’clock in the morning. Again, ‘We are down. We have no estimated time to be up and running’,” she lamented.
Pharmacies nationwide encountered difficulties processing prescriptions to insurance companies for payment starting Wednesday morning after Change Healthcare, a unit of UnitedHealth, fell victim to a cyberattack.
In a regulatory filing on Thursday, UnitedHealth attributed the hack to “a suspected nation-state associated cybersecurity threat actor.”
The company promptly “took immediate action to disconnect our systems to prevent further impact.”
On social media, Good RX and other companies acknowledged being impacted as well.
Horan resorted to utilizing another third party to procure her husband’s antibiotic, paying $26 out of pocket, aware that the cost could have been significantly higher.
“What do you do next? What do you do if you’re somebody who has a medication that’s going to keep you alive and you can’t get your hands on it? I don’t know what anybody’s doing. There’s got to be some people in a serious situation right now,” she expressed her concerns.