SEDGWICK COUNTY —Ascension hospitals in Wichita and in many Ascension facilities around the country detected unusual activity in their network systems on Wednesday, according to an Ascension spokesperson.
On Thursday evening, the hospital reported investigators confirmed the hospitals are battling a cybersecurity incident. Hospital staff are working around the clock with internal and external advisors to investigate, contain, and restore the systems following a thorough validation and screening process. The investigation and restoration work will take time to complete, and there is no timeline for completion.
The hospital is actively supporting their ministries as they continue to provide safe, patient care with established downtime protocols and procedures, in which the workforce is well trained. It is expected that the hospital will be utilizing downtime procedures for some time. Patients should bring to their appointment notes on their symptoms and a list of current medications and prescription numbers or the prescription bottles so their care team can call in medication needs to pharmacies.
Systems that are currently unavailable include electronic health records system, MyChart (which enables patients to view their medical records and communicate with their providers), some phone systems, and various systems utilized to order certain tests, procedures and medications.
The hospital has implemented established protocols and procedures to address these particular system disruptions in order to continue to provide safe care to patients. Out of an abundance of caution, however, some non-emergent elective procedures, tests and appointments have been temporarily paused while staff works to bring systems back online. Hospital teams are working directly with any patient whose appointment or procedure will need to be rescheduled.
Due to downtime procedures, several hospitals are currently on diversion for emergency medical services in order to ensure emergency cases are triaged immediately.
The hospital reminds patients, "If you are experiencing a medical emergency, please contact 911 and your local emergency services will bring you to the nearest hospital emergency room."