The cyberattack of a significant health care system within the United States sparked technical and operative crises in various centers that work with the company.
Ascension, a major medical network based in St. Louis, Missouri, announced late Thursday that a cyberattack had caused disruptions at some of its hospitals.
The widespread health care system is used in 140 hospitals across 19 states, in addition to running more than 40 senior living facilities.
“Systems that are currently unavailable include our 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,” Ascension said in a statement.
Some non-emergency procedures, tests and appointments are also being set back as Ascension deals with the cyber hack, which was first detected Wednesday as “Ascension detected unusual activity in our network systems.”
“Our investigation and restoration work will take time to complete, and we do not have a timeline for completion,” the nonprofit health care system said.
Other services that have been affected in some hospitals is emergency care, with ambulances being diverted from certain medical centers, Ascension reported.
“Several hospitals are currently on diversion for emergency medical services in order to ensure emergency cases are triaged immediately,” Ascension said. “If you are experiencing a medical emergency, please contact 911 and your local emergency services will bring you to the nearest hospital emergency room.”
The cyberattack on Ascension is just one in a pattern of United States health care systems being targeted.
In February, Change Healthcare, subsidiary of health care giant UnitedHealth Group, was hit by a ransomware attack that disrupted billing at pharmacies countrywide, and also compromised the personal data of up to one-third of Americans.
Andrew Witty, UnitedHealth’s CEO, told congress that the corporation paid the criminals behind the attack $22 million to protect patients’ data.
Meanwhile, Ascension is still making efforts to completely restore all of their systems that were infiltrated.
“We are beyond grateful for the hard work and dedication of our care teams across the system, and their continued commitment to our patients. We also thank our patients and our community for their continued support and patience during this time as we work through a diligent, time-intensive process to restore systems as quickly, and as safely, as possible,” the company’s statement reads. “To ensure all patients, staff, and stakeholders are kept informed during this event, we will continue to post updated information on our website as it becomes available.”
