UnitedHealth Group—the parent company of Change Healthcare, which is still reeling from a massive data breach in February—raised its forecast regarding the financial impact of the cyberattack to as much as $2.45 billion on the year. That’s more than double its previous estimate. Meanwhile, UnitedHealth reported Q2 profits of $4.2 billion and revenue increases of nearly 7%, according to Healthcare Dive. After input from federal officials a few weeks ago, the company was put on-task to take responsibility for notifying consumers about the widespread data breach—as is required by HIPAA laws—giving provider organizations not only protection from the added costs but also from the negative optics. Notifications are reportedly scheduled for delivery in late July.
It’s real: At least 1 urgent care organization announced in March that it would be permanently closing operations specifically because of the intractable cash flow problem caused by the Change Healthcare attack. UnitedHealth has created a website to offer information and support to affected providers, which can be accessed here.