ST. LOUIS — A healthcare provider with 140 hospitals around the country—including 16 in Michigan—says their operations have been disrupted due to a "cybersecurity incident."
An Ascension spokesperson shared a statement detailing the cyber attack on their network on Thursday, May 9.
The statement says the cyber attack was first detected on Wednesday and they are working to restore systems to working order.
"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," the statement reads.
The healthcare provider is using so-called "downtime procedures" to continue operations while their network is being restored. Hospital workers are trained to continue operations without the use of the network, the healthcare provider says.
Ascension says that they are expecting to be "utilizing downtime procedures for some time."
While the hospitals are still open and accepting patients, Ascension says the cybersecurity incident has paused some services.
"Out of an abundance of caution, however, some non-emergent elective procedures, tests and appointments have been temporarily paused while we work to bring systems back online. Our teams are working directly with any patient whose appointment or procedure will need to be rescheduled. We understand the frustration this may cause and sincerely regret any inconvenience to our patients," an Ascension spokesperson said.
Some hospitals in Ascension's healthcare network are also warning that some of hospitals are "currently on diversion for emergency medical services in order to ensure emergency cases are triaged immediately. If you are experiencing a medical emergency, please contact 911 and your local emergency services will bring you to the nearest hospital emergency room."
13 ON YOUR SIDE confirmed that Ascension Borgess Hospital in Kalamazoo and Ascension Borgess-Pipp Hospital in Plainwell are currently accepting emergency room patients.
Ascension is working with third party cybersecurity firm Mandiant to investigate and assist in the remediation of the network.
The healthcare provider added that they are also working with the appropriate authorities.
"Should we determine that any sensitive information was affected, we will notify and support those individuals in accordance with all relevant regulatory and legal guidelines," a spokesperson said in a statement.
You can follow updates to the cybersecurity event here.
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