UnitedHealth unit hack muddies Humana's view of care expenses

(Bloomberg) –The cyberattack on a UnitedHealth Group Inc. data service is making it harder for health insurers across the industry to gauge their medical care expenses, Humana Inc. executives said Tuesday.

About 15% to 20% of Humana’s medical claims submitted by providers flow through Change Healthcare systems before they reach the insurer, Humana Chief Financial Officer Susan Diamond said at an investor conference.

“To be honest we’re still trying to evaluate all of the impacts,” she said.

The cyberattack that brought down data and payment systems run by UnitedHealth’s Change Healthcare unit in February has rippled through the health-care industry. It’s delayed patients seeking medicines and payments for doctors, hospitals and pharmacies. 

It’s also complicated health insurers’ ability to accurately gauge how much they’ll have to pay out. Insurance companies always have to estimate their costs before they actually receive claims for medical care, which sometimes lag weeks or even months after a patient visit. But now many claims are delayed, making it even harder to assess how much they might owe for medical care already delivered.

Humana Chief Executive Officer Bruce Broussard said the insurer primarily uses a rival network called Availity and said companies are moving to work with other services while the Change network is down.