Hospitals, pharmacies, and other health care providers are facing challenges in insurance processing following a cyberattack in UnitedHealth Group's recently acquired subsidiary, Change Healthcare. The cyberattack, suspected to be orchestrated by a nation-state, has led to a system outage in the central hub for payments across the industry.

Federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and Department of Health and Human Services, are actively involved in addressing the situation. They will be holding a call with executives from UnitedHealth, the American Hospital Association, and the Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center to discuss the incident.

UnitedHealth has taken prompt actions by engaging leading security experts, collaborating with law enforcement agencies, and notifying customers, clients, and relevant government bodies about the cyberattack. The Change Healthcare payment systems remain disabled as the company continues to address the security breach.

The severity of the attack became more evident after UnitedHealth disclosed the involvement of a suspected nation-state in the cyberattack that commenced on Wednesday. Despite the ongoing efforts, the company has not divulged further details and has directed stakeholders to its update page for information.

The widespread impact of the cyberattack on health care insurance processing highlights the importance of cybersecurity and information sharing among relevant entities in the industry.