Cyberattack fallout Ascension and DocGo troubles ricochet Healthcare IT News

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ppPhoto francescoridolficomGetty ImagesppAfter cyberattacks large healthcare organizations must grapple with system cleanup and data breaches potentially harming patient care due to service disruptions exacting costs and garnering regulatory scrutiny on security vulnerabilities ppThis week we learned that the May 8 attack on Ascension left a former hospital with systems outages for operations yet to be migrated to its new owner the Guthrie Clinic and an attack on DocGo exposed US patient datappDespite the breach DocGo said it expects record profits this year while CommonSpirit reported improved financial results a year and a half after its massive patient data breach crediting telehealth and other measures for increased efficienciesppOn the day of the ransomware attack on Ascension Guthrie Lourdes Hospital in Binghamton New York became aware that certain systems still connected to its former parent organization were not working according to the hospitals outage informationppAlthough Lourdes became part of The Guthrie Clinic in February the hospital and associated clinics maintained some temporary linkages to the Ascension network while a permanent and organized migration to Guthrie systems can be phased in the New York hospital explained on its websiteppThis cyber event took place before a full transition could be completedppGuthrie said its IT team severed Lourdes connections with the affected systems and the Ascension ransomware attack impacted no other Guthrie facilitiesppThe Lourdes Hospital Emergency Room is open and will never turn away patients seeking care ppHowever prescriptions at Lourde cannot be filled the health system said on May 13 ppGuthrie advised affected patients to contact providers for a paper prescription that can filled at other retail pharmacies including Guthries nearby Corning and Sayre Pennsylvania hospitalsppAscension patients across multiple states are finding care strained as systems are slowly restoredppDocGo an ambulatory and remote patient monitoring provider in the US and UK filed a notice on May 7 with the US Securities and Exchange Commission over US patient data breached in a recent cyberattackppAs part of its investigation the company has determined that the threat actor accessed and acquired data including certain protected health information from a limited number of healthcare records within the companys USbased ambulance transportation business and that no other business lines have been involved DocGo said in the SEC filing ppDocGo said that business operations have not been impacted but provided few details on the attack Healthcare IT News sister publication MobiHealthNews reached out on May 9 but the company declined to comment on the breachppA day after reporting the breach to the SEC the company released substantial firstquarter earnings citing an increase in total revenue to 1921 million up from 113 million in the same period last yearppDocGo expects to generate between 280 to 300 million in 2024ppThis impressive growth is indicative of our ability to execute and deliver transformative longterm performance CEO Lee Bienstock said in a statementppDespite suffering a debilitating cyberattack in October 2022 CommonSpirit showed financial performance improvements on a yeartodate basis versus 2023 according to a statement Wednesday from the forprofit healthcare organization ppCommonSpirit reported operating revenues of 925 billion and operating expenses of 962 billion for the quarter that ended March 31 compared to revenues of 845 billion and expenses of 892 billion for the same period last yearppWe are pleased to see the continued improvement in our financial performance Dan Morissette CommonSpirits chief financial officer said in a statement ppIncreased volumes drove the financial improvements admissions rose 45 outpatient visits increased 2 and emergency room visits were 39 higher than last year along with
efficiency gains and reductions in lengthofstay the company said ppThe resulting breach affected protected data held by several hospitals that are part of Virginia Mason Franciscan Health owned by Chicagobased CommonSpiritppCommonSpirit said in 2022 that integrating telebehavioral care via Teledoc Health into its electronic health records as consultationliaison services was one way it reduced lengthofstay metricsppAnalyzing these metrics we found the benefits of telebehavioral health satisfied our main objectives a decrease in length of stay a decrease in cost an increase in satisfaction and expectations of care met John Mackenzie clinical program manager at CommonSpirit Telehealth Network told Healthcare IT NewsppAndrea Fox is senior editor of Healthcare IT News
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