June 7 (Reuters) - A federal panel on Friday centralized

49 lawsuits accusing UnitedHealth Group's ( UNH ) Change Healthcare

payment processing unit of failing to protect personal data from

February's cyber attack in Minnesota.

The federal Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation said

in an order on Friday that Minnesota, where UnitedHealth ( UNH ) is

based and where several cases are already pending, is the most

logical venue. Of the lawsuits, 19 were brought on behalf of

individual consumers whose data was allegedly compromised, and

30 by healthcare providers who say they were unable to get paid

for their services when Change's system was locked down after

the attack.

Change processes about half of the medical claims in the

United States. An American Hospital Association survey found

that 94% of hospitals reported damage to their cash flow as a

result of the attack.

The lawsuits accuse the company of negligence and are

seeking damages to compensate providers for their losses and

consumers for the cost of credit monitoring and potential

identity theft.

Change had sought to have the cases centralized in

Tennessee, where it is based. Some plaintiffs had proposed

keeping consumer cases in Tennessee and provider cases in

Minnesota, but the panel on Friday said the factual and legal

issues would be largely the same for both kinds of cases.

The panel assigned the cases to U.S. District Judge Donovan

Frank, a veteran judge appointed to the court in 1998.

Change and UnitedHealth ( UNH ) did not immediately respond to

requests for comment.

The attack is believed to have been carried out by the

ransomware hacker group BlackCat. UnitedHealth ( UNH ) disclosed the

intrusion on Feb. 21 but did not indicate then how many people

were affected.

Change said in an April court filing that the lawsuits are

"based on the incorrect and unfounded theory that, because a

cyberattack occurred, Change's security must have been

deficient, and plaintiffs must have been harmed."

The case is In Re Change Healthcare Inc Customer Data

Security Breach Litigation, U.S. District Court for the District

of Minnesota, No. 24-md-03108.

For plaintiffs: Gerard Stranch of Stranch, Jennings &

Garvey; Joseph Guglielmo of Scott & Scott; Gary Klinger of

Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman and others

For Change and UnitedHealthcare: Allison Ryan of Hogan

Lovells and others

Read more:

Change Healthcare wants data-breach lawsuits heard in

Nashville federal court

Almost all US hospitals took financial hit from Change hack,

AHA says