UnitedHealth Group posted a $1.4 billion net loss in the first quarter of 2024 following the sale of its Brazil operations and the unprecedented cyberattack on its Change Healthcare subsidiary in late February. Despite the losses, the company beat investor expectations and shares rose more than 6% to above $474, the Wall Street Journal reported.
"The core story at UnitedHealth Group remains our colleagues delivering improved experiences for the people we serve and driving balanced growth even while swiftly and effectively addressing the attack on Change Healthcare," CEO Andrew Witty said April 16.
To date, the company has provided over $6 billion in advance payments to providers.
In the first quarter, the cyberattack had an impact of $0.74 per share and the company expects the full year impact to be between $1.15 and $1.35 per share. The first quarter impact included $0.49 per share to support direct response efforts such as clearinghouse platform restoration and suspension of some care management processes to help providers.
UnitedHealth estimates a full-year business disruption between $0.30 to $0.40 per share. In total, the attack had an $872 million impact in the first quarter, which is expected to rise up to $1.6 billion in impact for the full year.
UnitedHealth Group
- Total revenues in Q1 were $99.8 billion, up 8.6% year over year. In Q1 2023, revenues were $91.9 billion.
- For 2024, the company projects adjusted net earnings of $27.50 to $28.00 per share, which excludes the impacts of the attack response costs and the sale of the company's Brazil operations, while including the estimated $0.30 to $0.40 per share of business disruption impacts. The sale of the Brazil business incurred a $7 billion charge in the first quarter.
- Total net loss in Q1 was $1.4 billion, down 125% year over year. Operating income in the first quarter was $7.9 billion. The company recorded a -1.4% net margin.
- The company's medical loss ratio was 84.3% in Q1, compared to 82.2% the year prior. Days claims payable were 47.1 in the first quarter compared to 47.8 a year ago.
UnitedHealthcare
- Total revenues in Q1 were $75.4 billion, up 7% year over year.
- Total earnings from operations in Q1 were $4.4 billion, up 2.3% year over year. The operating margin in Q1 was 5.8%.
- Total domestic membership is 49.2 million, which grew by nearly 2 million in Q1. Commercial membership in Q1 is 29.4 million. There are 7.7 million Medicaid members, 7.8 million Medicare Advantage members, and 4.3 million members with Medicare supplement plans. Part D plan membership is 3.1 million.
Optum
- Total revenues in Q1 were $61.1 billion, up 12.9% year over year and led by Optum Health and Rx.
- Total earnings from operations in Q1 were $3.5 billion, down 3.5% year over year. The operating margin in Q1 was 5.8%.
- Optum Health's Q1 revenues were $26.7 billion.
- Optum Insights's Q1 revenues were $4.5 billion.
- Optum Rx revenues in Q1 were $30.8 billion. The division processed 395 million adjusted scripts in Q1.