A local equine therapy group falls victim to UnitedHealth cyberattack.

The fallout of last month’s massive cyberattack by the hacking group BlackCat on UnitedHealth’s digital reimbursement clearinghouse that threatened the existence of clinics and pharmacies across the country has ensnared a small therapy provider, Equine Healing Collaborative. The Carmel Valley-based nonprofit delivers services to 400-450 children and adults every month.

“I have to furlough you, I’m not going to make payroll,” EHC Executive Director Jennifer Fenton remembers telling her five full-time clinicians, soon after Change Healthcare, UnitedHealth’s clearinghouse for reimbursement claims, was shut down on Feb. 21. The move left EHC without reimbursement for tens of thousands of dollars, according to Fenton. At least 48 appointments had to be canceled.

The furloughed employees are continuing to see their clients as volunteers, Fenton says. Six part-time clinicians, seven volunteer clinicians and student interns are also seeing clients at EHC’s four locations, three in Monterey County and one in Santa Cruz County.

Fenton says UnitedHealth offered workarounds for repayment, but those workarounds took EHC staff hundreds of hours and have not been successful. EHC started a GoFundMe account (bit.ly/ehcemergency) asking for donations to keep them afloat.

The cyberattack fallout has left providers like Fenton angry that UnitedHealth, which earned $371.6 billion in revenue in 2023, did not invest more money in cybersecurity. On March 7, UnitedHealth estimated it would be able to process claims beginning March 18, but it will take two additional weeks before EHC sees any money.