The meeting was led by Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser, a White House official said. Government officials attended the meeting in person, while industry officials joined remotely, the people said.
The White House confirmed that officials met with UnitedHealth and other industry leaders but declined further comment. HHS and UnitedHealth did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Change Healthcare, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth and the nation’s largest processor of medical claims, has been offline since a Feb. 21 cyberattack, crippling payments to tens of thousands of hospitals, physician groups and other organizations. The Biden administration has pleaded with UnitedHealth to accelerate emergency funding to affected providers and to be more transparent. Health-care groups warn they are running out of cash to fund their operations as the payment crisis enters its third week.
“We urge UnitedHealth Group to take responsibility to ensure no provider is compromised by their cash flow challenges stemming from this cyberattack on Change Healthcare,” Becerra and acting Labor Secretary Julie Su wrote Sunday in an open letter to health-care leaders. Becerra and Su urged other private health plans to make emergency payments and called for help from other sectors of the U.S. health system, such as other processors of medical claims.
“While we believe payers have a unique responsibility and opportunity to address the challenge before us, we urge action on the part of any health care entity that can step up,” the officials wrote.
Biden officials do not have statutory authority to compel UnitedHealth and the other groups to make additional payments.
UnitedHealth last week announced a timeline to bring its network back online, saying it expects to begin testing and reestablishing its claims network March 18, but health-care leaders said they were bracing for additional weeks of continued disruption.
UnitedHealth has offered an emergency loan program through its Optum unit. However, providers have said the offers are insufficient to meet their needs, and administration officials have pressed the deep-pocketed company to set aside additional funding. UnitedHealth reported revenue of nearly $372 billion last year.
Officials have moved to stand up emergency funding for affected providers. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Saturday that it would release emergency funds for physicians ensnared in the Change Healthcare hack.
Members of Congress and the health-care industry had panned federal officials for not making more help available for physicians and suppliers, saying that the smaller organizations needed emergency aid more than deeper-pocketed hospitals.
