As the Department has previously reported, Change Healthcare, which operates Vermont's Medicaid pharmacy claims system, experience a significant cyber security issue on February 21. Change Healthcare has confirmed that this issue is impacting pharmacies and providers across Vermont, New England, and the country. Change Healthcare's systems remain down, and the company has indicated that they have a plan in place for incremental restoration of services. The Department is aware of the statement issue by United Health Group on March 7 outlining the company's plan for key systems functionality to be restored. The Department will provide further guidance once we know what this means for Vermont Medicaid. At this time, the Department believes that complete restoration may take several weeks.
In order to ensure continued access to medication for our members, the Department of Vermont Health Access (DVHA) is remitting weekly payments to pharmacies, and providing continued operational guidance while the Change Healthcare system remains down. DVHA is committed to continuing to provide pharmacies with the resources and instructions they need in this time. In addition to these instructions, DVHA is holding twice weekly informational sessions with pharmacies to provide assistance and answer questions. We appreciate the continued efforts of Vermont's dedicated pharmacists and providers as we work together to manage this outage and maintain access to prescriptions for our members.
DVHA understands that pharmacies are experiencing an increased administrative burden during this time to provide access to medications while the Change Healthcare system is down. We are asking our members to please be patient as this increased workload may create delays at pharmacies. DVHA would like to acknowledge that most pharmacies are working diligently to comply with the guidance from the state.
The Department is aware that many other non-pharmacy provider organizations are affected by the outage of one or more Change Healthcare systems. Vermont Medicaid is also offering weekly advance payments to non-pharmacy Medicaid enrolled providers who are unable to submit Medicaid claims as a result of Change Healthcare systems being unavailable. Instructions for providers interested in requesting these advances can be found on DVHA's website (dvha.vermont.gov/providers/pharmacy).
The Department remains committed to transparency and open communication with pharmacies, providers, members, and the public. We will continue to provide updates as the situation develops. We continue to ask for patience and flexibility from providers, pharmacies, and members as we work diligently with our partners to resolve this issue.