The Wyoming Department of Insurance is monitoring the impact of the Change Healthcare cybersecurity attack that occurred on February 21, 2024. Change Healthcare is a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group that also operates as Optum Solutions. This attack has created challenges for insurers, health plan members and health care providers including hospitals, individual practitioners, outpatient facilities and pharmacies in Wyoming.

Consumers who are experiencing concerns related to this cybersecurity incident should first attempt to resolve those issues with their health insurer or care provider directly. If a resolution cannot be reached, contact the Wyoming Department of Insurance at 307-777-7402 or file a complaint online here.

The Department would also warn individuals and providers to beware of possible scams during this time. Change Healthcare, United Healthcare and Optum Solutions will not reach out to you and offer to reimburse you money you may be due by requesting card information or account information. If you receive calls like this, please contact the Department. Consumers are strongly encouraged to continue personal cybersecurity best practices such as complex passwords, avoiding suspicious links in emails, or speaking to an unknown medical provider or hospital seeking personal information.

Updates on Change Healthcare’s efforts to address the cybersecurity attack can be found at UnitedHealth Group's cyber response page ↗.

On February 1, 2024, the Wyoming Department of Insurance (“Department”) will email the Annual Appointment Renewal Invoice and the Detailed Appointment List to each insurer. Appointments will retroactively expire effective January 31, 2023, unless the renewal invoice is paid in full on or before the due date of March 31, 2023. Pursuant to W.S. § 26-9-213 ↗, each producer acting as an agent of the insurer must be appointed and each insurer shall remit the annual appointment renewal fee to the Department.

The last day to terminate an appointment and avoid the renewal fee is January 31, 2024. Once invoices are generated, the invoice may not be altered and must be paid in full to renew the company’s appointments. Be aware that if the invoice is not paid on or before March 31, 2024, the appointments will terminate effective January 31, 2024.

All 2024 Wyoming Company Annual Appointment Renewal Invoices should be paid via Sircon’s electronic payment portal (www.sircon.com). This process enhances efficiency, reduces costs and improves customer service with the Department. You will be able to submit payment for all Appointment Renewal invoices for your company in a single transaction through this service without having to pay each invoice separately. To use this service, you must be a Sircon account holder.

If you do not have a Sircon account, go to www.sircon.com/products/carriers/signup/ ↗ and follow the instructions to establish your Sircon account. If you already have a Sircon account, no action is required by you until you receive your invoice. Access to the Pay State Invoice Service for the Wyoming Appointment Renewals will be available on February 1, 2024.

Payments will be made through an Automated Clearing House (ACH) process using Vertafore’s Sircon Solution. There will be a $10 service fee for each invoice paid. Payments can be made with checking, savings, or corporate checking accounts. To submit these payments, the account must be authorized to accept ACH transactions.

We recommend notifying your bank no later than January 14, 2024, with the following information:

1. ACH Payment ID is: F742470776

2. Payment Processor: Vertafore, Inc.

If you have any questions regarding your Sircon account or this payment service, please contact Sircon at https://sirconwalkup.vertafore.com/apex/sc_ContactSupport ↗ or by phone at (877) 876-4430.

To access the Pay State Invoice service, go to www.sircon.com ↗ and log into your business account. Under the Administration menu click on “Pay State Invoices” to process payment.

Updating Insurer Appointment Renewal Contact Information

Appointment Renewal Invoices will be generated and emailed on February 1, 2023 to the Appointment Renewal address/contact on record with the Department. The Appointment Renewal address/contact shall be reviewed and updated using the Wyoming Company Address Change Portal.

Questions regarding use of the Company Contact Address Change Portal should be addressed to Joyce Aitken at wyinsdep@wyo.gov or by phone at (307) 777-7401.

Important Dates to Remember for your Appointment Renewal

• 1/31/2024: Appointment renewal contact updates due via the Department’s Company Address Portal.

• 1/31/2024: Last day for terminations of appointments not to be renewed.

• 2/1/2024: Appointment renewal invoices sent via email.

• 3/31/2024: PAYMENT DUE by 11:59 pm MT. Be aware, if the invoice is not paid on or before March 31, 2023, the appointments will be terminated on April 11, 2023.

• 4/1/2024: Payment service closes and payments will no longer be accepted.

Disputed Invoices

Any insurer having a dispute regarding a specific appointment must submit an email to the Department and provide documentation to verify that an appointment was terminated by the insurer prior to February 1, 2023. Invoices must be paid in full and may not be altered.

Questions

Questions concerning the Annual Appointment Renewal Invoices may be sent to Lisa Hastings, Licensing Supervisor at doi-appt-renewals@wyo.gov or by phone at (307) 777-7344.

The Wyoming Department of Insurance has again earned accreditation by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). Accreditation demonstrates a state's excellence in monitoring the financial solvency of Wyoming-domiciled insurance companies. Wyoming was first accredited in 1993 and has been continuously accredited since that time.

“Earning accreditation reflects the hard work and dedication of our financial examiners. Accreditation is the backbone of insurance regulations. It tells the world that Wyoming is doing it right and other states can rely upon our work” said Insurance Commissioner Jeff Rude.

Accreditation assures states are regulating their domestic multistate insurers according to national standards agreed to by the NAIC. For the insurance industry, accreditation means insurers will not require additional independent exams from the other states in which the insurers do business.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners has articulated the following:

The NAIC Financial Regulation Standards and Accreditation Program (Accreditation Program) serves as the backbone of the U.S. national system of state-based regulation. The Accreditation Program defines baseline standards deemed essential for effective solvency regulation in each state. In June 1989, the NAIC adopted the Financial Regulation Standards (Standards) to guide state legislatures and state insurance departments in the development of effective solvency regulation. In June 1990, the NAIC adopted a formal certification program to provide guidance to the states regarding the Standards, as well as an incentive to put them in place.

The Accreditation Program provides the impetus for states to adopt in a consistent manner the NAIC model laws, regulations and requirements that make up the U.S. insurance financial solvency framework. It is designed to ensure state insurance departments perform adequate and timely financial analysis and examinations, maintain appropriate organizational and personnel practices, and have sufficient resources and statutory authority to carry out their duties. Accreditation, granted to those states in line with the Standards, fosters accountability and uniformity, and allows regulators of multi-state insurers to rely on the domiciliary state’s solvency regulation to avoid duplication of effort and expense. Each accredited state’s laws or regulations contain a provision that all licensed companies are to be examined periodically. In lieu of performing its own examination, a state may accept the examination report prepared by an insurance department that was accredited at the time of examination. This inter-state reliance ultimately saves insurance companies, and by extension consumers, millions of dollars in duplicative examination costs. The process for a model law to become an accreditation standard is extensive and involves input and feedback from numerous parties, including state legislators and consumer and industry representatives. This is in addition to the extensive model law/regulation process at the NAIC where state insurance regulators consider comments and receive input from all insurance sector stakeholders. Only after several years and extensive feedback from the industry and consumers are model laws developed and become accreditation standards. Even then, once a model is adopted as an accreditation standard, states are given a two year timeframe to implement new standards before they take effect.