Ascension to inform 5.6 million patients whose info was involved in breach

By The Manhattan Mercury, Kan. (TNS)

Dec. 26—A cyber attack targeting Ascension Via Christi hospitals, including the one in Manhattan, in May impacted about 5.6 million people, the company reported to federal regulators.

Ascension officials said they’re working with third-party experts to investigate the personal information that may have been compromised and, over the next 2-3 weeks, will mail notices to patients affected. Those people will receive free credit monitoring and identity protection services from Ascension.

Ascension officials said it’s impossible to confirm the data involved for each person, it may include medical, payment, insurance, government or other personal information. They also said that though patient information was involved, they haven’t found evidence that data was taken from Ascension’s electronic health records and other clinical systems.

Some senior living residents and employees also had information involved in the breach.

The report said the attack happened on Feb. 29, but that Ascension officials didn’t discover it until May.

Ascension officials said they detected “unusual activity in our network systems.” The attack knocked out Ascension’s electronic health records system, its app that allows patients to view their medical records and communicate with providers, some phone systems and various systems used to order certain tests, procedures and medications.

Bob Copple, president of Ascension Via Christi Manhattan, said in August his location managed the aftermath of the attack smoothly because it didn’t experience issues as severe as some other Ascension hospitals.

“We have a lot of safeguards in place for our system, and we’re still adding more layers,” Copple said. “I think in our particular case, we did not have the same issues that our colleagues had.”

Ascension facilities remained open after the ransomware attack, and providers continued to see patients. Doctors, nurses and care teams used manual, paper-based systems until their electronic systems were available again.

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