Major hospital operator Ascension said its clinical operations and systems have been disrupted after a suspected “cyber security event,” NBC Chicago’s Charlie Wojciechowski reports.
Major hospital operator Ascension said its clinical operations and systems have been disrupted after a suspected "cyber security event."
The hospital system announced the disruption Wednesday, saying it had "detected unusual activity on select technology systems."
"At this time we continue to investigate the situation," the hospital operator's statement read in part. "We responded immediately, initiated our investigation and activated our remediation efforts."
Ascension went on to say that it was advising business partners temporarily suspend connections to its systems.
"There has been a disruption to clinical operations, and we continue to assess the impact and duration of the disruption," the statement said. No further timetable was provided.
Ascension is one of the largest hospital systems in Illinois, with 150 care sites and 15 hospitals, including Ascension St. Francis in Evanston, Ascension Resurrection in Chicago, Ascension Saint Mary in Kankakee and Ascension Alexian Brothers in Elk Grove Village.
According to a spokesperson, Ascension locations in Illinois were experiencing "some IT service interruptions."
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"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," the statement added.
Ascension is the latest major health care system to be impacted by disruptive cyber security event. Earlier this year, a "cybersecurity matter" at Lurie's Children's Hospital brought computer systems down for months. UnitedHealth Group also experienced a recent cyberattack, leaving many health-care provides temporarily unable to fill medications or get reimbursed for services by insurers for months.
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This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
