A data breach targeting UnitedHealth Group’s technology unit, Change Healthcare, last year impacted 192.7 million individuals, according to a Thursday disclosure on the U.S. health department’s website. This incident, disclosed in February last year, involved the “Blackcat” ransomware group infiltrating the unit, Reuters reports.
UnitedHealth had initially estimated in January that 190 million people were affected by the Change Healthcare data breach. The confirmed figure of 192.7 million positions this event as the largest healthcare data breach recorded in the United States to date. A UnitedHealth spokesperson confirmed, “The final total number of individuals impacted by the Change Healthcare cyberattack is approximately 192.7 million,” also noting that “the individual state numbers will vary in each state.”
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights maintains a public list of data breaches where the number of affected individuals is posted. The compromise of Change Healthcare led to widespread disruptions in claims processing, affecting both patients and healthcare providers nationwide. Information made vulnerable included health insurance member IDs, patient diagnoses, treatment information, Social Security numbers, and billing codes utilized by providers.
