St. Louis-based nonprofit and Catholic healthcare network Ascension, that operates 140 hospitals across more than a dozen states and Washington, DC, detected unusual activity in their network systems on May 8th and determined it was a cybersecurity incident. According to the news release, their team responded immediately, notified the appropriate authorities as well as business partners, and engaged Mandiant, a third-party expert, to assist in the investigation and remediation process.
“Safely caring for patients remains our highest priority as we navigate this cybersecurity incident,” per the release. “We are actively supporting our ministries as they continue to provide safe, patient care with established downtime protocols and procedures, in which our workforce is well trained. It is expected that we will be utilizing downtime procedures for some time. Patients should bring to their appointment notes on their symptoms and a list of current medications and prescription numbers or the prescription bottles so their care team can call in medication needs to pharmacies. We are working around the clock with internal and external advisors to investigate, contain, and restore our systems following a thorough validation and screening process. Our investigation and restoration work will take time to complete, and we do not have a timeline for completion.”
Systems that are currently unavailable include electronic health records system, MyChart (which enables patients to view their medical records and communicate with their providers), some phone systems, and various systems utilized to order certain tests, procedures and medications. The release stated that they have implemented established protocols and procedures to address these particular system disruptions in order to continue to provide safe care to patients.
Certain non-emergent elective procedures, tests and appointments have been temporarily paused. Due to downtime procedures, several hospitals are currently on diversion for emergency medical services in order to ensure emergency cases are triaged immediately.
