NEW YORK, March 5 (Reuters) -

The U.S. government said on Tuesday Medicare providers can

turn to their local administrative contractors to resolve claims

payment delays stemming from a hack at UnitedHealth's ( UNH )

technology unit Change Healthcare.

The statement comes after numerous hospitals, doctors,

pharmacies and other stakeholders highlighted potential cash

flow concerns caused by an inability to submit claims and

receive payments.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), a

division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

(HHS), has contacted all contractors that administer certain

Medicare claims to accept paper submissions if a provider needs

to file claims in that method, for individual consideration.

CMS also encouraged Medicare Advantage plans to offer

advance funding to providers most affected by the hack at

Change.

American Hospital Association (AHA) CEO Richard Pollack

wrote in a letter sent on Monday that a temporary assistance

program put in place by UnitedHealth ( UNH ) last week was "not even a

band-aid" on the payment problems caused by the hack, and called

the terms of the program "shockingly onerous".

UnitedHealth ( UNH ) did not immediately respond to a Reuters

request for comment on the letter from AHA.

The Change hack was perpetrated by hackers who identified

themselves as the "Blackcat" ransomware group.

Change said last week it had enabled a new version of its

ePrescribing service for all its customers, more than a week

after it reported a hack that had a knock-on effect on players

across the U.S. healthcare system. Parent company UnitedHealth ( UNH )

had announced a program to provide short-term funding for

providers unable to receive payment because of the hack.

"We need real solutions - not programs that sound good

when they are announced but are fundamentally inadequate when

you read the fine print," Pollack wrote in the letter to

UnitedHealth ( UNH ) Chief Operating Officer Dirk McMahon.

The CMS asked private companies that provide insurance

to older adults through Medicare Advantage plans to remove or

relax prior authorization procedures during the system outages.

It also urged government-supported children's insurance and

companies that provide Medicaid plans for low-income people to

do the same.

The AHA also wrote to congressional leaders on Monday to

request assistance for hospitals grappling with hack-related

issues.

(Reporting by Michael Erman and Pratik Jain; Editing by Chizu

Nomiyama and Devika Syamnath)