Category: cybersecurity

Baltimore-based Ascension Saint Agnes Hospital’s emergency department resumed seeing new patients in the midst of dealing with a cybersecurity incident that is hampering Ascension facilities, The Baltimore Sun reported May 10. 

The Biden administration plans to introduce cybersecurity mandates for hospitals that would be accompanied by free training for smaller facilities, Bloomberg reported.

A cybersecurity incident has left 140-hospital Ascension with its EHR disabled, some appointments and surgeries postponed, and the expectation that the 19-state health system will operate on downtime procedures “for some time.” 

The February cyberattack on UnitedHealthcare’s subsidiary Change Healthcare affected healthcare organizations across the country as revenue flow was crippled. But what has healthcare learned from the incident?

Ascension hospitals across the country continued to deal with the fallout of a “cybersecurity event” May 9 involving its St. Louis-based parent system.

A cyberattack is disrupting clinical operations at St. Louis-based Ascension.

Hospital associations are urging UnitedHealthcare’s CEO to provide a breach notification on behalf of the hospitals and health systems affected by the Feb. 21 attack on its subsidiary Change Healthcare. 

In a letter to patients, Poway, Calif.-based Palomar Health Medical Group said it is investigating “suspicious activity on certain computer systems within its network,” NBC San Diego reported May 7. 

The U.S. government has charged the alleged mastermind of a hacking group that extorted hospitals.

Hospitals should be on the lookout for “vishing,” a new form of cybercrime that uses artificial intelligence, a health system CIO said.