Kettering Health cyberattack latest: Internal health records back, MyChart work continues

Yahoo

2 days ago

Jun. 2—After two full weeks of Kettering Health dealing with a system-wide technology outage caused by a cyberattack, the group's clinical staff are now back to using the core components of its internal electronic health record software, the hospital organization said in its latest update.
"This marks a major milestone in our broader restoration efforts and a vital step toward returning to normal operations," Kettering Health's update said.
More than 200 people from the Kettering Health Information Systems team, clinical team members and partners from the software company Epic worked to reach this point, Kettering Health said.
Kettering Health's clinical staff can now update and access electronic health records, facilitate communication across care teams and coordinate patient care with greater speed and clarity, according to the hospital organization.
Progress continues in bringing Kettering Health's phone lines back online at its facilities and practices. Work is also continuing on bringing back access to MyChart for patients. MyChart is an online patient portal system created by Epic.
Administrators believe the cyberattack, which happened on May 20, was ransomware, though they did not have direct contact with the perpetrators, whom the hospital believes to be operating outside of the U.S.
This type of cyberattack generally takes between 10 and 20 days to fix, according to industry experts.
A "small subset" of Kettering Health's data was accessed during this cyberattack by unauthorized users, said Kettering Health CEO Michael Gentry.
"Once our analysis is complete, we will notify individuals that were impacted," Gentry said.
When Kettering Health detected unauthorized access within its technology infrastructure, the hospital system took action to contain that activity.
"In the following days, our teams and physicians have demonstrated resilience, creativity and a steadfast focus on patient safety," Gentry said.
Since May 20, patients have dealt with canceled appointments, delayed medical treatments and an inability to call their care teams or access MyChart. Certain patients needing emergency medical care were diverted from Kettering Health's emergency rooms during most of this outage, but that diversion ended last week. Others were able to continue services like physical therapy, but without the therapist being able to see all the notes from past visits.
The hospital system has been getting certain departments and services back to being operational during its ongoing recovery. Its wider network of primary care doctors and specialists have been seeing patients on a walk-in basis.
For Kettering Health patients with urgent health questions, call 937-600-6879 between 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday through Friday.
After hours, Kettering Health Medical Group patients can call MatchMD at 1-866-257-5363.
For medical emergencies, patients are urged to go to the nearest emergency department.
Kettering Health has 14 area medical centers and more than 120 outpatient locations throughout Western Ohio, as well as Kettering Physician Network, which includes more than 700 board-certified providers.