TOPEKA, Kan. A cyberattack on Ascension’s US healthcare system diverted ambulances, caused patients to miss medical appointments and blocked online access to their records.
An Ascension spokesperson said it detected “unusual activity” Wednesday on its computer network systems and that both the electronic records system and the MyChart system, which gives patients access to their records and allows them to communicate with their doctors, were offline. The nonprofit Catholic health system, based in St. Louis, has 140 hospitals and about 25,000 beds in 19 states and the District of Columbia.
The statement from an Ascension spokesperson said ambulances were diverted from “several” hospitals without naming them. In Wichita, Kansas, local media said local emergency medical services began diverting all ambulance calls from its hospitals on Wednesday, although the health system’s spokesman said Friday that the diversion ambulance total ended on Thursday afternoon.
And WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee reported that Ascension patients in the area said they were missing CT scans and mammograms and were unable to refill prescriptions.
“We have determined that this is a cybersecurity incident,” said the statement from Ascension’s national spokesperson. “Our investigation and restoration work will take time to complete and we do not have a timeline for completion.”
The statement said the Ascension system expects to use “downtime” procedures “for some time” and advised patients to bring notes about their symptoms and a list of prescription numbers or prescription bottles with them to appointments.
At two Wichita hospitals, employees were forced to use pen and paper and announce medical emergencies over the public address system because their pagers were turned off, a spokesperson representing the union that covers employees at those hospitals told The Wichita Eagle. .
Cybersecurity experts say ransomware attacks have increased substantially in recent years, especially in the healthcare sector. Increasingly, ransomware gangs steal data before activating malware that scrambles data and paralyzes networks. The threat of making stolen data public is used to extort payments. This data can also be sold online.
Ascension’s statement, released Thursday, did not say whether it was the victim of a ransomware attack or paid a ransom, and the system did not immediately respond Friday to an email requesting updates.
“We are working around the clock with internal and external consultants to investigate, contain and restore our systems,” the spokesperson’s statement said.
Earlier this year, a cyberattack on Change Healthcare disrupted healthcare systems across the country after hackers broke into a server that lacked multi-factor authentication, a basic form of security. It was unclear Friday whether the same group was responsible for the Ascension attack.
Change Healthcare, owned by UnitedHealth Group Inc., provides technology used by doctors’ offices and other care providers to submit and process billions of insurance claims per year. The attack delayed insurance reimbursements and increased pressure on doctors’ offices across the country.
After hackers gained access in February, they unleashed a ransomware attack that encrypted and froze large parts of the company’s system. UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Witty told Congress earlier this month that his company paid a $22 million ransom in bitcoin.
Witty said the company’s core systems are now fully functional. But company officials said it may take several months of analysis to identify and notify those who were affected by the attack.
They also said they see no signs that medical records or complete medical histories were released after the attack.
Witty told senators that UnitedHealth is “consistently” under attack. He said his company repels an intrusion attempt every 70 seconds.
A ransomware attack in November led Ardent Health Services, which operates 30 hospitals in six states, to divert patients from some of its emergency rooms to other hospitals while postponing certain elective procedures. It also suspended users’ access to information technology applications, such as software used to document patient care.
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Murphy reported from Indianapolis.
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