The costs of the Change Healthcare cyberattack continue to grow for parent company UnitedHealth Group.
UnitedHealth estimated the company would absorb about an additional 10 cents a share in costs for the February ransomware attack that disrupted claims processing and breached patient data across the nation, bringing the total to 75 cents a share, according to a third-quarter earnings report.
The healthcare conglomerate now estimates it will take a $2.87 billion hit from the cyberattack in 2024, after originally anticipating $1.6 billion in costs.
"After the cyberattack, we prioritized devoting resources to support care providers, over some activities such as share repurchase," President and CFO John Rex said in an Oct. 15 earnings call.
UnitedHealth has disbursed $8.9 billion in loans to providers affected by the IT outage, with $3.2 billion having been paid back.