Kettering Health, based in Ohio, announced on Friday, May 23, that he had intensified an emergency clinical support line and contact numbers of the temporary retail pharmacy to ensure the continuity of care during a computer failure.
The health system has also declared on social networks during the weekend that patients are back in radiotherapy thanks to the commitment of its technical and clinical staff.
Why it matters
The Cyberattaque network on Kettering which started on May 20 limited access to patient care, which led to the cancellation of elective surgeries, and closed its call center and text messaging services.
While emergency rooms and clinics have remained open in its 14 medical centers and more than 120 ambulatory facilities, other local hospitals were called upon to provide care to essential patients.
“We want to publicly express our appreciation to the network of hospitals and health systems in Grand Dayton and Northern Cincinnati, in particular Dayton Children's and first Health, because they have joined us to take care of the community at that time,” said Kettering CEO, Mike Gentry Technological penetration update page.
On Monday, the Affilié de Cincinnati NBC, WLWT5, reported that the patient's patient portal was not affected by the incident.
“What we know at the moment is that applications such as Mychart and these things have not been affected,” said John Weimer, Senior Vice President and Head of Incidents Command in Kettering Health history. “Internally, we are working to understand with our partners if we had information on employees or patients.”
Weimer also confirmed that the attackers had published a visible message on the Kettering network, giving the organization 72 hours to contact and negotiate a ransom payment. Previously, CNN reported the ransomware Led to the extortion of the locking ransomware gang.
“Throughout our thousands of computers, there [were] Pop-up messages that respond to certain requests, but there was no direct conversation with us, which I am aware, “he said.
Kettering is committed to focusing on the fast food of systems. Monday, the health system published a video to its social media which presented its radiation technology in oncology which returns online to treat patients.
“What usually takes weeks to come back online was back in five days,” said video.
“We are now dealing with patients who again had active radiotherapy plans,” said Dr Anthony Paravati in the video. He then credited the staff for his sacrifices working during the Memorial Day vacation weekend to put operational systems and use them to provide patients with vital treatment.
The day and the day of the appointments do not matter for care providers, added Sarah Macke, radito oncologist. “We are there for them whatever happens.”
Christopher Wennerstrom, Kettering technical physicist, called him an “incredible feat” to see the linear return online accelerators in the short time.
The biggest trend
Kettering not only faced a ransomware attack that started on the morning of May 20, but also confirmed at the end of the day that a phone scam quickly targeted his patients directly.
People claiming to be team members requested credit card numbers to pay for medical invoices in progress. Consequently, the health system said it had interrupted certain billing activities until further notice.
Considered and studied as life threats, accelerating the recovery of health cyber attacks is essential for patient safety, said John Riggi, national cybersecurity and risk for American Hospital Association Association IT news for health care.
“You will have to make a battlefield call without all the facts, under constraint, under time constraints, faced with an opponent who will change the course according to what you do,” he said.
When a hospital is closed by ransomware, neighboring hospitals are also tense.
“We have to plan the region for very disturbing ransomware attacks that will have a regional impact,” he said. “We have seen it again and again.”
Riggi has advised to take advantage of resources as mutual assistance agreements to combat the continuity of businesses and clinics when a cyber attack threatens three to four weeks of stopping.
At the same time as
“In the end, these are lives,” said Dr. Matthew Knecht in the Kettering social media video announcement. “You don't want it to be [the patient’s] Problem at the end of the day. This is always our problem. And we found a way to get there. “”
Andrea Fox is editor -in -chief of Healthcare It News.
Email: afox@hims.org
Healthcare It News is a publication of the Himss media.
