A widespread cyberattack has severely disrupted operations across the Ascension healthcare network, leaving patients in distress and without timely care. The incident, which unfolded on Wednesday, has impacted a multitude of Ascension facilities, including 140 hospitals and about 40 senior living establishments across the U.S., as per reports from FOX 2 Detroit.
Patients like Zackery Lopez, who sought critical care for a potential cancer diagnosis at Ascension Providence in Southfield, Michigan, were met with unusually long wait times for pain medication and admission due to the cyber onslaught. Lopez, who feared a cancer recurrence, agonized for seven hours before receiving pain relief, and even then, the hospital was unable to assign him a room. The disruptions have forced healthcare providers to revert to antiquated paper charts, as electronic systems were knocked offline.
In the face of this digital mayhem, Ascension, a leading nonprofit and Catholic health system, acknowledged the "unusual activity" via a news release and assured that care teams are equipped to handle such crises, maintaining tried procedures to ensure patient care is minimally affected. The healthcare giant has engaged cybersecurity firm Mandiant Solutions to delve into the attack and has notified legal authorities, as stated by CBS News Chicago. Continual efforts to assess the impact and restore operations are underway.
Ascension additionally recommended that business partners temporarily sever connections to its compromised system as a safety measure, "Together, we are working to fully investigate what information, if any, may have been affected by the situation," Ascension communicated, hinting at the potential risk of exposed sensitive patient data. Ascension has promised to follow all regulatory and legal procedures to support affected individuals, CBS News Chicago reported. Amid this technical upheaval, the potential consequences for patient privacy remain under scrutiny.
The latest cyber attack adds yet another page to an increasingly concerning chapter for healthcare cybersecurity. With major entities like UnitedHealth Group's subsidiary Change Healthcare and, earlier this year, Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago falling victim to such breaches, the vulnerabilities within the U.S. healthcare infrastructure are being laid bare. The consolidation of healthcare networks, as previously expressed by HHS Secretary Becerra, may be amplifying these risks by creating fewer, larger targets that, when compromised, can cripple the "industry."
