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Several Ascension hospitals are diverting ambulances to emergency departments, and the nonprofit health system is suspending some elective care following a cybersecurity incident Wednesday which shut down critical systems.
The association's electronic health records, MyChart patient portal and some phone systems are unavailable, according to a Thursday update of Ascension, a large Catholic provider that operates 140 hospitals in 19 states and Washington, D.C.
Various systems used by the health system to order certain tests, procedures and medications are also down.
“It is anticipated that we will use downtime procedures for a period of time,” an Ascension spokesperson said in a statement. “Patients should bring notes about their symptoms and a list of current medications and prescription numbers or prescription bottles to their appointment so their healthcare team can call pharmacies to fulfill their medication needs. »
Ascension detected “unusual activity” on certain technology network systems on Wednesday. The health system has launched remediation efforts, including working with Mandiant, a Google subsidiary and cybersecurity company, to assist in an investigation and determine whether any data was breached.
The incident comes after the healthcare sector faced increase in cyber threats. The industry is still recovering from the major ransomware attack on UnitedHealth's Change Healthcare earlier this year, which may have exposed a large amount of US data and shutting down key supplier operations like claims processing.
Cyberattacks can lead to worst patient care and increased mortality rates, as hospitals lose access to critical systems and delay services.
Earlier this year, based in Chicago Lurie Children's Hospital was hit by a cyberattack that took its phone, email and EHR systems offline for weeks.
Ardent Health Services had to divert emergency care at facilities in several states after a Thanksgiving Day attack. Non-urgent surgical procedures, suspended, resumed several weeks later.