Change Healthcare Update: VA Providers Impacted by Breach May Resume Claims Processing

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced that its direct Veterans Care Agreements (VCAs) claims processing systems are back online following the Change Healthcare cybersecurity breach. This comes after certain VA direct payment systems needed for processing claims under VCAs were impacted by the breach, and the VA took those systems offline. Of note, claims processing for Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity contracts was not impacted. 

The VA shared additional information that impacts community nursing facility providers who were not able to submit VCA claims. However, the VA is still permitting the submission of VCA paper claims if a provider’s own systems remain impacted. 

If you submit medical claims directly to VA and were impacted by the recent Change Healthcare incident, you can now submit claims using the same VA Payer IDs. VA’s system for claims submission, using electronic data interchange, is stable and secure. Currently, VA is providing claims acknowledgement reports (277CA) for Payer ID 12115 (Veteran community care). After you file a Veteran or family member claim, you will receive electronic remittance advice (835) files with final adjudication and payment information. 

Tips for Veteran community care claims: 

• Use the eCAMS provider portal to check the status of claims submitted to VA. 
• Call the Community Care Contact Center at (877) 881-7618 if you have billing inquiries about claims submitted to VA. 
• For issues with provider vendorization and payment reissues, contact VA’s Financial Services Center at (877) 353-9791. 
• More information is available at File a Claim for Veteran Care–Information for Providers.

Community providers are encouraged to actively monitor their patient accounts and resubmit claims to VA if they haven’t received communications through VA’s electronic data interchange about previously submitted claims.