Cyberattack affects thousands of pharmacies, raising prices for many

ATLANTA — Pharmacies in Georgia say they are having trouble applying drug maker discounts to prescriptions following a cyberattack last week on a major health tech platform.

The intrusion at a subsidiary of UnitedHealthcare in Minnesota is affecting thousands of pharmacies around the country, complicating the process of billing through insurance companies.

“It’s definitely disrupting workflow. The majority of manufacturers’ coupons that we run for patients on their brand name drugs are not going through so it’s costing. The medications are a lot more expensive without those discounts.” Georgia Pharmacy Association President-Elect Ben Ross told Channel 2′s Tom Regan.

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Ross, who owns eight pharmacies in southeast Georgia, cited an example of higher cost for medications without industry discounts.

“There’s a lady on a headache medication at one of my pharmacies her co-pay through her insurance is over a thousand dollars. The coupon brings it down to zero. So she is literally going from zero to over a thousand dollars.” Ross said.

Ross said his organization is trying to determine how many patients and pharmacies in Georgia are affected by the fallout from the cyber-attack.

He says that pharmacies are working the best they can to ensure patients get their medications, and in some cases, are covering the coupon discount in hopes of getting it reimbursed once technical issues are resolved.

One emergency physician leaving a Briarcliff Pharmacy on Clairmont Road in DeKalb County condemned the cyber-attack.

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“It’s terrible. First of all, pharmaceuticals are very expensive. For people who need the medicine, they need discounted medicine if at all possible, in addition to generic ones. So, if there is any block, on whether an insurance issue or the pharmacy, it’s a tragedy. Anyone who would do that needs to be prosecuted to the ninth degree.” Dr. Pat Meadors said.

UnitedHealthcare said it is working as quickly as possible to restore its systems and notified law enforcement authorities about the computer network intrusion.

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