On August 22, 2024, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) published a notice in the Federal Register announcing an extension of the timely filing limits for claims impacted by the Change Healthcare cyberattack.

In February, Change Healthcare announced that it was the victim of a massive cyberattack. In response, Change Healthcare proactively took down several of its online platforms, including its online claim submission platform. This platform is used by the VA to receive electronic claims. The VA indicated that this resulted in what it calls “limited or no ability” to receive electronic claims between February 21, 2024 and May 8, 2024 (referred to hereinafter as the “Limited Access Period”).

The current notice is intended to address problems with timely filing that resulted from that Limited Access Period. Specifically, the VA is announcing that claims that would have been considered timely had they been submitted during the Limited Access Period will continue to be treated as timely filed to the extent they are submitted on or before October 31, 2024.

Claims submitted after that date will not be considered timely filed, and will be denied.

Thus, the VA is effectively extending the timely filing period for VA claims through October 31, 2024. The VA expressly noted that this would include claims for transportation furnished to veterans with dates of service between February 21, 2022 and March 23, 2024. Note: the specific program under which ambulance transportation claims are being paid will determine the actual timely filing limits. The VA was simply noting the earliest and latest possible qualifying dates.

Therefore, if you have claims for ambulance services that were recently denied by the VA for lack of timely filing, the AAA encourages you to resubmit those claims to the VA under this extending timely filing period.