Computer systems have been down for all Luminis Healthcare providers for two weeks and it\u2019s not clear when services will be fixed.<\/p>\n
Luminis was hacked on Sept. 1. Luminis runs Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis, Maryland Doctor\u2019s, Community Medical Center in Lanham, Maryland, and several other primary care and specialty offices around the region.<\/p>\n
The provider issued a statement Wednesday, saying: \u201cLuminis Health continues to make considerable progress in restoring affected systems. We are pleased to share that telephone service has now been restored across all Luminis Health locations.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith telephone service restored, patients can call their physician or surgeon\u2019s office directly for scheduling, test results, prescription questions, and other care needs. MyChart, our patient portal, remains unavailable at this time. Patients should contact their doctor\u2019s office directly for assistance.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The impact was widespread. Patients couldn\u2019t communicate with doctors, pay bills or access health records through the provider\u2019s MyChart app. Providers can\u2019t access those records either.<\/p>\n
The sister of a woman recently admitted to Anne Arundel Medical Center described a situation where nurses gave out their own cellphone numbers to patients so they could respond to needs. She also said each wing of the hospital had developed its own system for taking notes and communicating with patients to continue providing care.<\/p>\n
Luminis\u2019 phone system is down and multiple emails were not returned when asked for comment. But the situation the healthcare company finds itself in is becoming more and more common across the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cHackers have identified that health systems are vulnerable and have tons and tons of valuable data, and so have targeted those increasingly,\u201d said Nate Apathy, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Public Health who studies health information and electronic health records.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t seem to be particularly targeting specific types of health systems or hospitals,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just like everybody\u2019s at risk \u2026 rural hospitals are at risk and big metropolitan-based systems are at risk, and ambulatory surgery centers are at risk, and clearinghouses are at risk. The risk is all over.\u201d<\/p>\n
In most cases, Luminis officials are reticent to say much about the attack, including whether it was ransomware or something else. That can be frustrating for patients who don\u2019t know what information was taken or when systems will be back up and running.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t want to give credibility to anyone seeking a ransom,\u201d Apathy said. \u201cThis is a challenge that the healthcare industry is actively trying to figure out how to deal with because it is getting so much more common.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe risks of lower-quality care are real,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Computer attacks increase in-hospital mortality<\/p>\n
A study published in February in the American Economic Journal showed that ransomware attacks decrease hospital volume by 17% to 24%, while in-hospital mortality increases by 34% to 38%. It usually takes hospitals about three weeks to recover.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a big risk, and that is something that patients should take very seriously, but to a large extent, it\u2019s out of their control,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Dori Cross, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health said third-party companies that manage data are also targeted, but when hospital systems are hit, they typically focus more on care than messaging.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think clinicians, patients, families \u2014 I think what they care about most is, what are you doing to try to protect the quality and safety of healthcare?\u201d she asked. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat are we doing to try to ensure that in this downtime we\u2019re still taking the best care of patients that we can?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure how much extra they would get by kind of disclosing the sensitive specifics of what\u2019s happening behind the curtain,\u201d she added. I think there\u2019s \u2026 positives and negatives to that type of transparency.\u201d<\/p>\n
Because every healthcare system is a target, Cross said simply switching providers isn\u2019t going to lead to better outcomes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not like I can say, \u2018Oh, well, I used to get my care at Luminis, but I\u2019m going to switch to their competitor because they have stronger cybersecurity, and so this isn\u2019t going to happen,\u2019 right,\u201d Cross said. <\/p>\n
\u201cAll delivery organizations have relatively comparable levels of risk, and so from a patient perspective, it\u2019s not, \u2018Oh, I should change where I get my care\u2019 because today it\u2019s Luminis, but next month it could be \u2026 whoever the other kind of main health system is in that area.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is affecting patients and their families, but there\u2019s not much that they can do proactively, and that\u2019s what makes it such a kind of insidious problem,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n