Status Updates on Change Healthcare Outage
We met with Change Healthcare again yesterday 3/13/2024
They continue to report they are on target to begin the process next week of receiving claims (beginning on March 18th).
An outline was provided for a 3-step process for services coming back online: connection, testing, and resumption. In the connection phase, the rebuilt infrastructure will be thoroughly tested by a variety of third-party cybersecurity experts (including companies like Mandiant and Palo Alto) to ensure that connections are safe and properly secured. EHRs and other products will be in their final test to get claims out.
Change Healthcare has acknowledged that some transactions have been delayed during the outage and will work with payers on an individual basis to get ERAs resent to Change Healthcare which will then be sent back to us. They state there might be the possibility of Therasoft getting duplicate eras, if that happens you can just remove the duplicate EOB on the actual EOB page in Therasoft. Some payers might take some time to get them back so keep an eye on the payer's sites until this is fully restored. Change Healthcare is also promising to get this process down as soon as possible so we can all return to day-to-day tasks.
Change Healthcare continues to encourage customers to apply for their funding opportunities for an interest-free short-term loan. They continue to expand eligibility and ask anyone impacted by the outage to apply, even if you were previously denied a loan or offered an unusually low amount. The low amounts were due to their automated loan application not accounting for providers that only use Change Healthcare to send claims. Get additional information through the Optum inquiry form. https://www.optum.com/en/business/providers/health-systems/payments-lending-solutions/optum-pay/temporary-funding-assistance.html
We have made you aware that we are holding Medicare claims until restoration or other means to send claims to this payer. We are planning to release some Medicaid claims that do not require enrollment here in these states. We will let you know the date that you can resend these claims out of Therasoft, we are hoping by the end of this week.Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Montana, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin
We are looking at alternatives after Change Healthcare is restored to moving to a new clearinghouse. If we can still give you the ability to log in to their portal, we will keep you updated.
We will work with you and let you know if and when this will take place over the next few months.
We want things to get back to normal before we make a change like this.
Thank you for all your support and understanding during this time. We appreciate you!