“In April, I joined other attorneys general in sending a letter to UnitedHealth Group, Inc. — the nation’s largest health insurer and the parent company of Change Healthcare — urging the corporation to take more meaningful action to better protect providers, pharmacies, and patients harmed by the company’s recent data breach,” said Attorney General Rosenblum.
Change Healthcare has publicly stated that the breach could impact up to 1/3 of all Americans. However, Change Healthcare has not yet provided notice letters to all impacted consumers. Even consumers who do not have insurance through UntitedHealth Group may be impacted, because Change Healthcare managed transactions for many different entities, such as hospitals, individual practitioners, pharmacies, etc. Given the delay between the data breach and notification to those impacted, the Oregon Department of Justice (DOJ) is publicizing not just the breach, but also resources, including the offer that Change Healthcare has provided to the public.
Change Healthcare is offering all Oregon residents who believe their health information may have been impacted free credit monitoring and identity theft protections for two years. The dedicated website and call center can guide individuals through setting up those free services but will not be able to provide details to individuals about whether their data was impacted. Because the actual number and identity of affected consumers are not yet known, DOJ encourages Oregonians to be aware of and use the following resources Change Healthcare has offered:
- For information on the breach, visit http://changecybersupport.com.
- To enroll in credit monitoring, visit http://changecybersupport.com or call (888) 846-4705.
- For additional support from Change Healthcare, call (866) 262-5342.
If consumers are concerned that their data may have been impacted but prefer not to use the free resources provided by Change Healthcare, they can also consider freezing their credit.
For more information on how to freeze your credit, identity theft, and data breaches, visit www.oregonconsumer.gov.