SALT LAKE CITY — Cindi Beck went to the University of Utah Health pharmacy to pick up her prescription Wednesday, and they told her their computers were having trouble, and they couldn’t verify her insurance, so she tried another pharmacy, she said.
“They said that they're also having the same problem, that it's a cyber attack nationwide and that they don't know how long it's going to be down,” said Beck. “It's something that, it's software or something, that all of the pharmacies or the majority of the pharmacies use, and they don't know how long it's going to be down but they can't do anything.”
Beck is referencing a cyber security issue the Utah Department of Health and Human Services confirms the Medicaid pharmacy vendor ‘Optum’ is experiencing. Due to the outages, Medicaid staff have been unable to access any pharmacy claim information. U of U’s pharmacies experienced a disruption to their system, and while their pharmacies are still operating, they can’t process insurance, they told FOX 13 News.
Having access to her medication is important, said Beck.
“They're significant,” she said. “It's one for my heart, and it's also Ritalin. So without my Ritalin, I can't work, and without the heart medicine, I'm super short of breath and get super tired, and it affects my quality of life.”
In a statement, the DHHS wrote that Optum “Disconnected their systems” to “reduce the impact” of the cyber attack, and the DHHS is telling pharmacies “to provide a 72-hour emergency supply of medication at no cost to Medicaid members.’”
