INDIANAPOLIS — An Ascension St. Vincent spokesperson confirmed the company is still working to investigate a "cybersecurity incident" that interrupted some of its technology network systems on Wednesday, May 8.
According to the spokesperson, officials detected "unusual activity on select technology network systems" on May 8 which resulted in an interruption to accessing some systems.
On Thursday, the spokesperson said the affected systems included electronic health records, MyChart, some phone systems and "various systems utilized to order certain tests, procedures and medications."
While Ascension works to investigate the incident and restore its systems, the spokesperson said several hospitals in the network are on diversion for emergency services and some non-emergent elective procedures have been temporarily paused. The hospital is working to directly contact the impacted patients who may need to reschedule.
Read the full May 9 statement below:
"On May 8, Ascension detected unusual activity in our network systems. We have determined this is a cybersecurity incident. We are working around the clock with internal and external advisors to investigate, contain, and restore our systems following a thorough validation and screening process. Our investigation and restoration work will take time to complete, and we do not have a timeline for completion.
Safely caring for patients remains our highest priority as we navigate this cybersecurity incident. We are actively supporting our ministries as they continue to provide safe, patient care with established downtime protocols and procedures, in which our workforce is well trained. It is expected that we will be utilizing downtime procedures for some time. Patients should bring to their appointment notes on their symptoms and a list of current medications and prescription numbers or the prescription bottles so their care team can call in medication needs to pharmacies.
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. We have implemented established protocols and procedures to address these particular system disruptions in order to continue to provide safe care to patients. 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.
Due to downtime procedures, several 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.
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. 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."
May 8, 2024 statement
"On Wednesday, May 8, we detected unusual activity on select technology network systems, which we now believe is due to a cyber security event. At this time we continue to investigate the situation. We responded immediately, initiated our investigation and activated our remediation efforts. Access to some systems have been interrupted as this process continues.
Our care teams are trained for these kinds of disruptions and have initiated procedures to ensure patient care delivery continues to be safe and as minimally impacted as possible. There has been a disruption to clinical operations, and we continue to assess the impact and duration of the disruption.
We have engaged Mandiant, a third party expert, to assist in the investigation and remediation process, and we have notified the appropriate authorities. Together, we are working to fully investigate what information, if any, may have been affected by the situation. 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.
Out of an abundance of caution we are recommending that business partners temporarily suspend the connection to the Ascension environment. We will inform partners when it is appropriate to reconnect into our environment.
This is an ongoing situation and we will provide updates as we learn more."