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UnitedHealth group is calling on more health insurance companies to utilize the Change Healthcare systems it has already restored and bring the healthcare system closer to normalcy. The company, which operates Change Healthcare through its Optum subsidiary, is processing claims through its restored Assurance software and has reactivated its Relay Exchange clearinghouse, for example. But UnitedHealth Group needs more insurers to reconnect, it said in a notice on its website Wednesday. (Berryman, 3/28)

Hospitals are still struggling to get paid even as the damage from last month’s Change Healthcare cyberattack is slowly remediated — and they are pointing the finger at insurers. Thirty to 40 percent of claims continue to be denied, compared with 5 percent before the attack, according to Chip Kahn, CEO of the Federation of American Hospitals, a trade group. ... “The insurers have not stepped up to the plate,” Kahn said. The insurance industry counters that it’s doing all it can. (King, 3/28)

Change Healthcare issued an update late Wednesday confirming that an analysis of the data accessed in the cyberattack on its systems is underway, and experts say the process of notifying people whose information was exposed could be messy. Change's parent company UnitedHealth Group posted the latest status on that investigation on its running update page, where the healthcare giant confirmed the team is working "as quickly as possible" to complete the full analysis of the data. (Minemyer, 3/28)

Providers and health insurance companies see a long road ahead that stretches past whenever UnitedHealth Group declares Change Healthcare is fixed. Full restoration of claims, billing and other processes won't mark the end of the mess that began with a cyberattack last month, which forced UnitedHealth Group to take Change Healthcare systems offline and plunged the healthcare sector into disarray. Healthcare organizations anticipate operational and financial effects even when Change Healthcare is up and running again. (Berryman, 3/28)

Washington is cracking down on the technology running behind the scenes in health care following a debilitating cyberattack on a health care payments processing company — and it could have major implications for hospitals and the vendors selling crucial IT. (Ravindranath, 3/29)