Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include a statement from Optum.
The American Medical Association (AMA) is seeking answers from Optum after reports from physicians indicated that the company is putting pressure on them to repay loans issued following the cyberattack on Change Healthcare.
The organization sent a letter Friday to Roger Connor, CEO of OptumInsight, which houses Change. In it, the AMA said that Optum should take two steps that will make it easier for docs to repay the funds they borrowed.
For one, the company should take an individualized approach to recouping the loans. Optum should also work with UnitedHealthcare to pause claims filing deadlines that date back to when Change's services were not online, preventing them from submitting claims as normal.
Many physician practices are still feeling financial strain more than a year after the cyberattack, the AMA said.
"Multiple reports from our members detail how Optum has instituted a loan repayment process that unexpectedly calls for immediate repayment of sizeable loans—sometimes amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars," the organization wrote in the letter. "If the practice does not repay the specified amount within five business days, Optum threatens to completely withhold practices’ current claims payments until the balance has been repaid."
A report in The Wall Street Journal highlighted some individual cases of physicians who were pressed to repay the loans, including a New Jersey-based neurosurgeon whose reimbursements had already been garnished by $68,000.
“Optum has and will continue to actively work with providers to identify flexible repayment plans based on the individual circumstances of providers and their practices,” Optum said in a statement. “We have also worked with UnitedHealthcare to ensure the claims it receives are reviewed in light of the challenges providers experienced, including waiving timely filing requirements for the plans under its control.
“We have asked the AMA to join us in encouraging flexibility from all payers and plan sponsors,” Optum said.
In May 2024, UHG CEO Andrew Witty testified before Congress about the cyberattack and the company's response, and he said Optum will only seek repayment for the loans once the physician determines their business is back to normal.
Holding to that promise is critical, the AMA said, as every practice's needs are unique.
"Given that the recovery from the cyberattack for physician practices is still very much in process, business is not back to normal, from any perspective," the AMA wrote. "We want Optum to honor its commitment to wait to recover repayment for any loans until the physician determines that it is the appropriate time, because the physicians have relied on Optum’s statements."
"We also ask Optum, rather than pursuing a 'one-size-fits-all' approach to loan repayment, to instead reach out to each practice that received a loan to negotiate an individualized, realistic repayment plan that is appropriate to that practice," the organization said.