Change Healthcare

Change Healthcare (known as Emdeon before rebranding in 2015, which followed its acquisition of Change Healthcare) is a provider of revenue and payment cycle management that connects payers, providers, and patients within the U.S. healthcare system. The name also refers to a company founded in 2007 which subsequently became part of the current conglomerate. The company operates the largest financial and administrative information exchange in the United States.

The company is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, with more than 89 additional locations throughout the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Israel, Taiwan, the UK, and the Philippines.

Change Healthcare (2007)
A company called Change Healthcare was established in 2007 and based in Brentwood, Tennessee. The company provided healthcare consumer engagement and health plan cost transparency tools to health plans and large, self-insured employers, across the United States. The company was founded by Christopher Parks and Robert Hendrick with a consumer solution called MedBillManager. In January 2010, the company shifted its focus to the business-to-business market and launched the Change Healthcare Engagement Platform.

In April 2011, Howard McLure, former president of CVS Caremark, came out of retirement to lead Change Healthcare as chairman and CEO. Doug Ghertner joined the company as president in July 2011; prior to this, he oversaw product innovation and management at CVS Caremark and was a senior vice president.

In December 2011, Change Healthcare closed a round of financing, led by Sandbox Industries, BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners, and West Health Investment Fund. In September 2012, Ghertner was promoted to president and CEO, and McLure assumed the role of executive chairman.

In July 2013, Change Healthcare closed on a round of Series D funding. It was led by HLM Venture Partners, and including new investor Noro-Moseley Partners, infused $15 million into the company. In July 2013, Change Healthcare was named one of Modern Healthcare’s “100 Best Places to Work in Healthcare."

Emdeon
In 2004, WebMD Corporation acquired Dakota Imaging, Inc. and ViPS, Inc.

Until August 2005, Emdeon operated under the name WebMD Corporation (NASDAQ: HLTH). The name was changed to Emdeon to avoid confusion with its then subsidiary WebMD, which started public trading under stock symbol WBMD in September 2005.

In May 2009, the company acquired The Sentinel Group, a vendor of software and investigational services to combat health care fraud. In January 2010, the company acquired FutureVision Investment Group, L.L.C. (FVTech), a provider of outsourced services specializing in electronic data conversion and information management solutions. In March 2010, the company acquired Healthcare Technology Management Services, Inc. (HTMS), a management consulting company focused primarily on the healthcare payer market. In June 2010, the company acquired Chapin Revenue Cycle Management, LLC (Chapin), a technology-enabled provider of accounts receivable denial and recovery services. In August 2010, the company acquired Interactive Payer Network (IPN), a technology service provider that acts as an outsourcing partner for HIPAA-compliant healthcare electronic data interchange (EDI). In October 2010, the company acquired Chamberlin Edmonds & Associates, Inc. (CEA), a technology-enabled provider of government program eligibility and enrollment services. In May 2011, the company acquired EquiClaim, a provider of healthcare audit and recovery services for commercial and government payers, from MultiPlan, Inc.

In August 2011, Emdeon Inc. was taken private for $3 Billion by Blackstone Group. Blackstone's offer of $19 per Emdeon share was backed by committed financing from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital and Citigroup. Emdeon shares jumped 13.6% the morning after the acquisition. Shares had risen 31% over the year prior to the announcement.

In May 2012, the company acquired TC3 Health, a cost containment provider, including payment integrity and out-of-network claims cost management, to U.S. healthcare payers. In June 2013, the company acquired Gold Health Systems, a healthcare management organization that specializes in providing pharmacy benefit and related services primarily to State Medicaid agencies across the nation. In July 2014, the company acquired Capario, a healthcare technology provider.

In November 2014, Change Healthcare was acquired by Emdeon for $135 million. In November 2015 Emdeon officially rebranded to take the Change Healthcare name.

In December 2014, the company acquired AdminiSource Communications, Inc.. In August 2015, the company acquired Altegra Health, a provider of technology and intervention platforms that combine data aggregation and analytics with member engagement and reporting capabilities.

In June 2016, McKesson Corporation and Change Healthcare Holdings, Inc., announced the creation of a new healthcare company which combined substantially all of Change Healthcare's business with the majority of McKesson's Information technology unit. McKesson owns approximately 70% of the new company, with the remaining equity stake held by Change Healthcare stockholders. The new company continues to be called Change Healthcare.

In October 2018, it was reported that Change Healthcare Corporation hired underwriters and investment banks for a 2018/2019 time-frame initial public offering. On June 27, 2019, Change Healthcare Inc. began trading on the NASDAQ stock exchange with stock symbol CHNG, offering up to 49.2 million shares of its stock at a price of $13 per share and raising more than $640 million in its IPO.

In December 2018, Change Healthcare acquired the intellectual property and other key assets, including employees, of Charleston-based health care IT startup PokitDok.

In January 2021, UnitedHealth Group's OptumInsight unit agreed to acquire Change Healthcare in a deal valued at $13billion, including assuming $5billion of latter's debt. Following delays due to regulator scrutiny, the acquisition closed on October 3, 2022.

2024 Cyberattack
On February 21, 2024, the company was hit by a cyberattack which prevented payouts to doctors on the platform. As a result of the attack, electronic payments and medical claims could not be processed by UnitedHealth Group, leading to widespread disruption. Patients were forced to pay for many of their medications out of pocket instead of using medication coupons or copays. Many healthcare providers claimed to lose significant revenue as a result of the disruption, up to $100 million per day, threatening many with insolvency. As a result of the cyberattack, HHS opened a civil rights investigation with regards to patient privacy concerns.

On February 22, 2024, UnitedHealth Group filed a notice to the Securities and Exchange Commission stating that a "suspected nation-state associated cybersecurity threat actor" gained access to Change Healthcare's information technology system. Following UnitedHealth Group's initial filing, CVS Health, Walgreens, Publix, GoodRX, and BlueCross BlueShield of Montana reported disruptions in insurance claims. The cyberattack affected family-owned pharmacies and military pharmacies, including Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton. Healthcare company athenahealth was affected, according to Forbes.

On February 29, 2024, UnitedHealth Group confirmed that the ransomware attack was "perpetrated by a cybercrime threat actor who...represented itself to [the company] as ALPHV/Blackcat." In the same update, the company stated that it was "working closely with law enforcement and leading third-party consultants, Mandiant and Palo Alto Networks" to address the matter.

On March 4, 2024, Reuters reported that a bitcoin payment equivalent to nearly $22 million USD was made to a cryptocurrency wallet "associated with ALPHV." UnitedHealth has not commented on the payment, instead stating that the organization was "focused on the investigation and the recovery." On the same day, a Wired reported stated that the transaction looked "very much like a large ransom payment."

As of March 18, 2024, UnitedHealth Group had advanced payments of over $2 billion in assistance to health care providers affected by the cybersecurity attack. In addition, some services had been restored including Change Healthcare’s payment processing platform and pharmacy network.

Response
On March 1, 2024, UnitedHealth Group's Optum division launched a Temporary Funding Assistance Program to help bridge the gap in short-term cash flow needs for providers who received payments from payers that were processed by Change Healthcare. The American Hospital Association (AHA) stated that the program was "not even a band-aid" on the payment problems identified by the company, citing its "onerous" terms and conditions including Optum's ability to recoup funds "immediately and without prior notification," and to "change the agreement simply by providing notice."

On March 5, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced financial "flexibilities" for hospitals impacted by the attack. The American Hospital Association (AHA) was critical of these measures, stating that the proposed flexibilities were "not an adequate whole of government response."

On March 12, 2024, UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Witty was summoned to a meeting by the Biden administration, during which HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra and White House domestic policy chief Neera Tanden urged Witty and other members of UHG leadership to increase the amount of funding available to providers who have been impacted by the protracted outage. Healthcare providers from across the sector were also in attendance and voiced their concerns about the ongoing financial and operational impacts of the Change cyberattack.

As of April 16, 2024,, UnitedHealth Group had advanced payments of over $6 billion in assistance to health care providers affected by the cybersecurity attack.