June 17 (Reuters) - The Centers for Medicare and

Medicaid Services said on Monday it plans to close an advance

payments program it started to help some Medicare providers and

suppliers hit by service disruptions at Change, UnitedHealth's ( UNH )

technology unit.

CMS plans to close the program on July 12 and said it will

not accept new applications for Change Healthcare/Optum Payment

Disruption accelerated or advance payments after that date.

Accelerated payments totaling more than $2.55 billion

have been issued to over 4,200 providers including hospitals, it

said.

It also issued 4,722 advance payments, totaling more

than $717.18 million, to suppliers including doctors,

non-physician practitioners and durable medical equipment

suppliers.

CMS said it has already recovered over 96% of CHOPD

payments to date and that suppliers and providers of services

are now successfully billing Medicare.