St. Margaret’s Health is shutting down two hospitals and three clinics after suffering a ransomware attack in 2021. The attack kept their network down for three months and prevented them from billing insurers, Medicaid or Medicare for months. The hospitals include St. Margaret’s Hospital in Spring Valley and Illinois Valley Community Hospital in Peru.
“You’re dead in the water,” said Linda Burt, vice president of quality and community service at St. Margaret’s Health. We were down a minimum of 14 weeks. And then you’re trying to recover. Nothing went out. No claims. Nothing got entered. So it took months and months and months.”
The ransomware attack occurred in February of 2021, shutting down the spring valley hospital computer network and ceasing all web-based operations, including the patient portal. The branch in Peru was not affected because they were on a separate network. Unfortunately, the extended shutdown of Spring Valley combined with the impact from COVID-19 and staff shortages has forced St. Margaret’s health to sell the Peru branch to help pay for expenses incurred in the attack as well as shutting down multiple clinics in the area.
Both the Spring Valley and Peru facilities will shut down on the June 16th.
Amit Patel, SVP, Cyware had this to say:
“This is a stark reminder of the worst-case scenario for a small healthcare organization. Without enough resources to invest in robust security, updated systems, and having a clear recovery plan, these important local healthcare resources can easily be put out of business, directly impacting their patients.
“This is an industry-wide problem, yet we keep expecting our weakest links to defend themselves. We have to invest in systems to share intelligence, security best practices, and critical alerts across the industry quickly, reliably, and automatically.”
It’s cheaper to have the means to prevent an attack like this than to respond to it. While this is the worst thing that I have heard of, it won’t be the last I fear. Thus I hope it serves as an example to get yourself into a position where you are less likely to be the victim of an attack like this.
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This entry was posted on June 15, 2023 at 8:36 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Hacked. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Illinois Hospital Shutting Down In Part Due To A Ransomware Attack In 2021
St. Margaret’s Health is shutting down two hospitals and three clinics after suffering a ransomware attack in 2021. The attack kept their network down for three months and prevented them from billing insurers, Medicaid or Medicare for months. The hospitals include St. Margaret’s Hospital in Spring Valley and Illinois Valley Community Hospital in Peru.
“You’re dead in the water,” said Linda Burt, vice president of quality and community service at St. Margaret’s Health. We were down a minimum of 14 weeks. And then you’re trying to recover. Nothing went out. No claims. Nothing got entered. So it took months and months and months.”
The ransomware attack occurred in February of 2021, shutting down the spring valley hospital computer network and ceasing all web-based operations, including the patient portal. The branch in Peru was not affected because they were on a separate network. Unfortunately, the extended shutdown of Spring Valley combined with the impact from COVID-19 and staff shortages has forced St. Margaret’s health to sell the Peru branch to help pay for expenses incurred in the attack as well as shutting down multiple clinics in the area.
Both the Spring Valley and Peru facilities will shut down on the June 16th.
Amit Patel, SVP, Cyware had this to say:
“This is a stark reminder of the worst-case scenario for a small healthcare organization. Without enough resources to invest in robust security, updated systems, and having a clear recovery plan, these important local healthcare resources can easily be put out of business, directly impacting their patients.
“This is an industry-wide problem, yet we keep expecting our weakest links to defend themselves. We have to invest in systems to share intelligence, security best practices, and critical alerts across the industry quickly, reliably, and automatically.”
It’s cheaper to have the means to prevent an attack like this than to respond to it. While this is the worst thing that I have heard of, it won’t be the last I fear. Thus I hope it serves as an example to get yourself into a position where you are less likely to be the victim of an attack like this.
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This entry was posted on June 15, 2023 at 8:36 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Hacked. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.