Minnesota Hospital Association urges patients to be cautious of scam calls following UnitedHealth Group cyberattack
The Minnesota Hospital Association is asking patients to look out for potential scammers in the wake of a cyberattack that hit UnitedHealth Group in February.
The cyberattack impacted the company’s Change Healthcare division, which disrupted the financial system supporting hospitals, clinics and pharmacies.
According to the Minnesota Hospital Association, the security breach has allowed scammers to contact people in the U.S. posing as hospital, clinic or pharmacy employees. Some reports claim that scammers are trying to obtain credit card information by bringing up alleged payments and rebates or refunds related to drugs or other health services.
The Minnesota Hospital Association urges Minnesotans to use caution regarding their health care, as hospitals will not call patients asking for credit card information.
They state that if someone has been contacted about this, they should hang up immediately and reach out to their provider directly to discuss any questions about financial information or billing.
UnitedHealth Group confirmed that the ransomware group ALPHV, or Blackcat, was responsible for the breach on Feb. 21 that saw at least six terabytes of data stolen from the health insurer. The attack targeted potentially private data and other information for millions of patients across the country.
Blackcat later took responsibility for the attack and claimed UnitedHealth Group had paid $22 million for its data back.
On Wednesday, a class action complaint was filed in federal court against UnitedHealth Group, claiming that their cybersecurity practices and policies were insufficient, did not meet industry-standard measures and did not protect the class action members.
Change Healthcare said Wednesday that all of its major pharmacy and payment systems were back online. The company also said it expects to start reestablishing connections to its claims network and software on Monday.
RELATED: UnitedHealth sets mid-March goal for restoring Change systems after cyberattack