After a massive ransomware attack to their systems, Ascension announced on Friday that access to electronic health records has been restored. The company says that while the EHR systems are restored, records collected between May 8 and the date of the local restoration may be “temporarily inaccessible” as they continue to update the portal. Patients can contact their clinician’s office for record availability for that time period.
Ascension notes that remediation of additional systems continues and that the investigation is ongoing. The cyberattack impacted Ascension hospitals across the U.S., including six in metro Detroit, leading to higher wait times as all of them had to revert to pen and paper during the recovery process.
The health care system is saying this all started with an honest mistake by one of its employees who accidentally downloaded a malicious file they thought was legitimate, allowing hackers into their system. According to their investigation, attackers took a small number of files from servers mostly used for routine daily tasks, but those files may have included some people’s protected health and personal data. Ascension says it will let anyone who was affected know when they are done analyzing the data and is offering free credit monitoring and identity protection services to patients. Patients who wish to use these services can call 1-888-498-8066.
