Cyberattack Hit, Disrupt US Major Hospital Chain Operations

Ascension, a prominent US healthcare system with 140 hospitals across 19 states, announced  in  a statement late Thursday that a cyberattack has caused significant disruptions to their operations.

The attack rendered key systems unavailable, including electronic health records, patient communication portals (MyChart), phone lines, and certain medication and test ordering platforms. This has even impacted emergency services in some locations, forcing ambulances to divert to different hospitals.

In some cases, emergency care is affected as well, with ambulances being diverted from certain medical centers, the St. Louis-based chain said.

“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.”

Some non-emergency procedures, tests and appointments are also being postponed as Ascension deals with the cyber hack, which first came to light 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.

Ascension also runs more than 40 senior living facilities.

The cyberattack on Ascension is just one in a series that have hit U.S. health care organizations.

In February, Change Healthcare, a subsidiary of health care giant UnitedHealth Group, was hit by a ransomware attack that disrupted billing at pharmacies nationwide and compromised the personal data of up to a third of Americans, CNN reported.

To try to protect patients’ data, UnitedHealth paid $22 million to the criminals behind the attack, CEO Andrew Witty told Congress this month.