March 8 (Reuters) - Democratic Senator Mark Warner said

on Friday he plans to introduce legislation that would help

accelerate and advance payments to medical providers and vendors

following the hack on UnitedHealth's ( UNH ) tech unit Change

Healthcare.

The unit processes about 50% of medical claims in the U.S.

for around 900,000 physicians, 33,000 pharmacies, 5,500

hospitals and 600 laboratories. About 1 in 3 U.S. patient

records are touched by its health technology offerings.

"I plan to write and introduce legislation that would

provide for accelerated and advanced payments to providers and

vendors to protect them in the event of future disruptions, as

long as they meet minimum cybersecurity standards," Warner said

in a statement.

Change Healthcare was breached on Feb. 21 by a hacking group

called ALPHV, also known as "BlackCat".

The UnitedHealth ( UNH ) unit said on Thursday it expects to restore

disrupted services for medical claims and payments platforms by

mid-March.

"This attack demonstrates that we need to have backup plans

in place for such incidents," Warner, who is also the chair of

the Senate Intelligence Committee, added.

The U.S. government said on Tuesday that it will accelerate

Medicare and Medicaid payments to some hospitals hurt by the

hack.

(Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru)