GRAND BLANC, MI – Three weeks after a criminal ransomware attack, McLaren Health Care is back online with its clinical systems and electronic medical records, officials confirmed Monday, Aug. 26.
Stacey Klump, vice president of patient care and chief nursing officer for the McLaren Bay Region, told MLive that while investigations and recovery processes are ongoing, patient care is returning to normal and patients are encouraged to seek care as usual.
“We will continue recovery efforts over the next few weeks, and those recovery efforts, as you know, will continue to be pursued with remarkable urgency,” Klump said. “But I think it’s important for our community to know that we are fully operational and open for business on a safe platform.”
Related: McLaren confirms cyberattack on hospitals and clinics; compromised data still unknown
McLaren identified suspicious activity on its information technology platforms on August 5.
Out of an abundance of caution, internal IT teams disconnected the healthcare company’s network from the Internet while they investigated the activity.
A criminal cyberattack was confirmed, and the hospital called in a team of experts and security specialists, Klump said.
Management previously supported the 13 hospitals and many outpatient clinics went into “downtime” after learning of the attack. This included the possible postponement of planned or non-urgent medical procedures, tests and treatments.
When clinical systems and online medical records went down, McLaren backed up its systems and moved to physically documenting things and keeping records on paper.
The company continues to work with cybersecurity experts to determine if employee or patient data has been compromised. If so, Klump explained, McLaren will contact those individuals directly.
“We have witnessed extraordinary composure, compassion and commitment to our patients,” Klump said. “We know there have been delays and challenges, but in the face of those challenges, our team has shown resilience under very difficult and stressful circumstances to keep our patients at the center of our care.”
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