WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Ascension, a major U.S. health care network, said Wednesday that its “clinical operations” were disrupted due to an alleged cybersecurity issue.
The nonprofit said it detected “unusual activity” on some of its technology systems and encouraged its business partners to temporarily suspend connections to the Ascension environment.
“Our care teams are trained for this type of disruption and have initiated steps to ensure the delivery of patient care remains safe and minimizes the impact wherever possible,” Ascension's statement said. stated in the statement.
Ascension said it has notified authorities and contacted third-party experts Madiant to assist with the investigation and remediation process. It also said it would continue to monitor “the impact and duration of the disruption.”
“We are working together to thoroughly investigate any information that may have been affected by this situation,” Ascension said in a statement. “If we determine that sensitive information has been affected, we will notify and support affected individuals in accordance with all relevant regulatory and legal guidelines.”
Ascension's network includes 35,000 affiliated providers and 140 hospitals in 19 states.
Lisa Watson, a nurse at Ascension Via Christi St. Joseph in Wichita, Kansas, said the hospital closed its operating rooms Wednesday due to cybersecurity issues. She also told Nexstar's KSNW that the system and electronic medical records the hospital uses to scan drugs before giving them to patients were down.
“We have all our medications organized in paper charts, and all lab orders are handwritten and sent to the wards where they are supposed to be delivered via the pneumatic tube system,” Watson said.
It is unclear when operations at hospitals and other facilities within the health system will return to normal. Ascension said it will notify business partners when it is safe to reconnect.
In a separate incident, UnitedHealth announced in February that a ransomware group gained access to some of its systems at its Change Healthcare business, which provides technology used to submit and process insurance claims. The attack disrupted payment and billing processes across the country and caused stress on clinics and health systems.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
