UVM Health Electronic Health Record System is Now Operational a Month After Cyber Attack

University of Vermont Health Network made an announcement that its electronic health record (EHR) system is again back online, one month after experiencing a ransomware attack. The ransomware attack transpired on October 25, 2020 and resulted in a substantial disruption in six of its hospitals. Over the past month, staff members had no option but to write patient information, orders, and prescribed medicines using pen and paper since its computer network was down.

UVM continued to deliver care to patients during the attack and recovery procedure, nevertheless the restoration of its EHR will considerably raise productivity. The attack prompted serious disruption, specially at University of Vermont Medical Center located in Burlington, however the attack impacted the whole network. Since important patient information can’t be accessed, the schedule of a lot of elective procedures were rebooked and the radiology department based on the main campus suffered serious delays, and was just partially open.

In a November 24, 2020 news, UVM Health stated it had a big milestone in the restoration process, when its Epic EHR system is eventually accessible on the web for its outpatient and inpatient websites, which include UVM Medical Center and the Central Vermont Medical Center ambulatory clinics, Porter Medical Center And Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital.

Though electronic patient data is currently accessible and personnel could log patient data digitally, the recovery process is not yet done and a lot of work still should be completed. The UVM Health teams keep on working 24 / 7 to completely reestablish everything rapidly and securely.

The phone system is re-established, nevertheless patients still cannot access the MyChart patient site so patients can’t view their health data on the web yet. There are many other patient care applications employed by the health network that stays unavailable. UVM Health is working very hard to bring back those systems and they are going to be systematically regained in time, with the primary emphasis on patient-facing systems.

Some other healthcare sites encountered ransomware attacks about the same time as the UVM Health attack. St Lawrence Health System in New York successfully restored its EHR systems two weeks after the ransomware attack, however Sky Lakes Medical Center had no choice but to change the most part of its systems and workstations due to the attack.

Ashtabula County Medical Center (ACMC) located in Ohio was remarkably badly affected by a ransomware attack on September 24, 2020. Aside from the medical center, the attack also impacted five health centers. Two months right after the attack, the EHR is still not yet accessible. A complete restoration may be realized in late 2020.

Elizabeth Hernandez

Elizabeth Hernandez is the editor of HIPAA News section of HIPAA Coach and an experienced journalist in the healthcare sector. She specializes in healthcare and HIPAA compliance, making her a go-to source for information on healthcare regulations. Her work focuses on the importance of patient privacy and secure information handling. Elizabeth also has a postgraduate degree in journalism. Follow on Twitter: You can follow Elizabeth on twitter at https://twitter.com/ElizabethHzone