Cyberattack on healthcare company impacts pharmacies nationwide

TAMPA, Fla. - Pharmacies nationwide are facing delays after a big healthcare tech company, Change Healthcare, owned by United Healthcare, confirmed their systems were the victim of a cyberattack on Wednesday. 

On Thursday, some local Bay Area pharmacies were unable to process prescriptions through patient’s insurance. 

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The Tampa Family Pharmacy staff was majorly impacted, telling FOX13 they were unable to process 90 percent of their claims to bill people’s insurance. 

A cybersecurity expert says people don’t worry about cyberattacks like they should, because you can’t see them happening. 

"They don’t see it - out of sight, out of mind - and because this is all done electronically, people don’t fully realize the impact it could have on them," James McQuiggan, with KnowBe4, tells FOX13. 

This time, the impact had dangerous effects on Americans. 

"A lot of seniors take medicines every day and if today’s the day they have to go get their prescription life-saving medicine… this could have a significant impact on them," McQuiggan said. 

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"It loses trust for that organization," McQuiggan said when asked what motivates cyber criminals to attack U.S. organizations. "Overall, that’s kind of their main goal - to disrupt and damage."

Overall, smaller, family pharmacies saw the biggest impacts. Larger chains, like CVS and Walgreens, weren’t affected. 

Walgreens issued a statement saying in part: 

"For the small percentage that may be affected, we have procedures in place so that we can continue to process and fill these prescriptions with minimal delay or interruption."