Lawsuits are starting pile up against UnitedHealth Group two weeks after a cyberattack at its Change Healthcare unit caused a widespread outage that has paralyzed its payment processing systems.
At least five lawsuits have been filed in Tennessee and Minnesota federal courts. The suits, which name either Change Healthcare or UnitedHealth, Change Healthcare and Optum, as defendants, seek class action status.
The suits allege the data breach compromised sensitive personal information, putting individuals at risk of scams and Change Healthcare could have prevented the breach had it undertaken proper security measures.
Related article:UnitedHealth Group's Change Healthcare hit with cyberattack
One suit filed in Minnesota also alleges a patient was unable to fill two prescriptions with insurance coverage as a result of the incident. That suit also alleges the patient was not notified of the breach until March 5.
Law firms in recent days have pubicly sought individuals who say they have been harmed by the incident.
In statement Wednesday, UnitedHealth Group said it is focused on the investigation and restoring operations at Change. It did not respond to a request for comment on the suits. Change Healthcare and Optum did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Change Healthcare disclosed the cyberattack Feb. 21, at first saying the network disruptions were expected to last at least a day.
On Tuesday, UnitedHealth Group said in a notice on its website it expects Change Healthcare's pharmacy network to be back up and running for the majority of its customers as soon as Thursday.
A suit filed in Tennessee alleges providers were hurt financially, as they were unable to process claims and faced billing disruptions that have affected cash flow needed to pay employees or for medical equipment.
Since the breach was announced, several organizations, including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, have stepped in to offset the burden of the breach on patients as well as healthcare providers.
On Friday, UnitedHealth Group plans to launch its own financial support program for providers who are unable to submit claims through an Optum electronic data interchange. UnitedHealth said it plans to notify eligible providers about the Optum platform.
