Business Day

UnitedHeal­th expects hack to cost $1.6bn

- Leroy Leo and Sriparna Roy

UnitedHeal­th Group said on Tuesday it expected the hack of its Change Healthcare unit to cost the company up to $1.6bn this year but maintained its 2024 earnings forecast, suggesting a less severe impact of the cyberattac­k than many on Wall Street had feared.

Despite the huge disruption­s, the healthcare conglomera­te beat estimates for first-quarter earnings, and its shares were up 7.5% in morning trading. United shares have fallen nearly 15% since it disclosed the ransomware attack on February 21.

The hack at Change, which operates one of the largest financial clearing houses in the US, disrupted payments to doctors and healthcare facilities nationwide for a month while taking a harsh toll on community health centres that serve more than 30-million poor and uninsured patients.

The health insurer relaxed, or removed, prior authorisat­ion processes for some claims after the hack, stoking concerns of an increase in medical costs. Executives said on Tuesday these had recently been reinstated.

There were also delays in claim submission­s as medical care providers, unable to access the Change system, struggled with paperwork.

DATA BREACH

“We’ve made substantia­l progress and we will not rest until care providers’ connectivi­ty needs are met,” CEO Andrew Witty said on a conference call to discuss results.

United said it had already booked $872m in costs related to the data breach in the quarter, most of it as one-time items.

Still, it backed its 2024 adjusted profit forecast of $27.50 to $28 per share. Disruption­s from the hack are expected to affect profit by between $1.15 and $1.35 per share this year, the company said.

“The impact of the hack is not severe as expected, especially seeing that they maintained their adjusted earnings outlook for the year despite the business disruption,” said Gerrit Smit, head of global equity management at investment firm Stonehage Fleming, which held more than 90,000 United shares at the end of 2023.

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