Resources available for Nevada consumers affected by healthcare cyberattack

It's been about five months since cyberattackers targeted Change Healthcare and UnitedHealth.

In February, a group called AlphV Blackcat accessed computer networks at hospitals, healthcare facilities, and pharmacies across the United States.

Here in Nevada, the Nevada Hospital Association said several services had been impacted including verifying health covers, disrupting claims processing, disrupting patient portals, disrupting employee health savings accounts, and the inability to report on quality management to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

As part of the attack, the group claimed to have stolen "about 4TB" of healthcare information. For context, a hard drive with four trillion bytes of data could hold around 800,000 high-resolution photos, 1 million MP3 songs, or 1,000 hours of HD video.

According to Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford and the Bureau of Consumer Protection, affected Nevada consumers have access to free credit monitoring and identity theft protection services.

"Typically, when there is a data breach impacting Nevada residents, consumers receive an individualized letter or email if their data was impacted. However, Change Healthcare has not yet provided individual notice to consumers," a press release states.

Nevada residents who believe they may have been impacted can receive those services for two years.

According to Ford's office, the dedicated website and call center will not be able to provide individuals with details about whether their data was impacted but can guide them through the set-up process.

To enroll in credit monitoring through IDX, click here or call 1-888-846-4705.

Consumers should also be aware of potential warning signs that someone is using their medical information, which include:

• A bill from your doctor for services you didn't receive
• Errors in your Explanation of Benefits statement like services you never received or prescription medications that you don't take
• A call from a debt collector about a medical debt you do not owe
• Medical debt collection notices on your credit report that you do not recognize
• A notice from your health insurance company indicating you have reached your benefit limit
• You're denied insurance coverage because your medical records show a pre-existing condition you don't have