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<\/div>\nU.S. healthcare providers can ask Uni<\/span>tedHealth Group to notify <\/span>people whose data was exposed during a hack on the company\u2019s <\/span>Change Healthcare unit in February<\/a>, according to an update on the health department\u2019s website.<\/span><\/p>\n The news comes <\/span>as a relief for U.S. hospitals and healthcare providers that had <\/span>urged<\/a> the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to shift the notification responsibility to <\/span>UnitedHealth and its unit.<\/p>\n \u201cAffected covered entities that want Change Healthcare to provide breach notifications on their behalf should contact Change Healthcare,\u201d the HHS\u2019 Office for Civil Rights (OCR) <\/span>said in an update dated May 31.<\/p>\n U.S. law states data breaches must be reported to individual patients within 60 days of discovery.<\/span><\/p>\n A UnitedHealth spokesperson said the company appreciates the clarification from OCR, which \u201creiterates our stated preference to ease the reporting obligations of our customers.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier in May, the healthcare conglomerate\u2019s CEO Andrew Witty told a Congressional committee that hackers potentially stole a third of Americans\u2019 data in the Feb. 21 cyber attack that led to disruptions in processing medical claims. The company is still trying to fix the processing <\/span>snags<\/span>.<\/p>\n Witty had also said <\/span>the company continued to investigate the amount of data involved and thought it was <\/span>\u201cgoing to be substantial.\u201d<\/p>\n UnitedHealth warned the breached data could contain sensitive information such as names, addresses, medical codes and insurance numbers, the Wall Street Journal<\/span> reported earlier in the day<\/span>, citing the company\u2019s responses to questions from the Senate Finance Committee.<\/p>\n The breach at the unit, which handles healthcare billing, data systems and many other services, has caused widespread disruptions in claims processing, impacting patients and providers across the country.<\/p>\n Related:<\/strong><\/p>\n Topics<\/span> Cyber<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Was this article valuable?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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