Michigan’s McLaren Health Care back to ‘normal operations’ after cyberattack

• Less than a month after a cyberattack, McLaren Health Care says its technology is back online
• McLaren’s ‘operations are fully functional across Michigan,’ according to a statement released Monday
• It’s unclear, however, whether patient information was stolen

McLaren Health Care, a 13-hospital system based in Grand Blanc, said its technology platforms have been restored, and the health system’s clinical and administrative operations are “fully functional” across Michigan three weeks after a cyberattack.

Patients are encouraged to seek care as they normally would throughout the system, including at McLaren’s emergency departments, diagnostic imaging centers, surgical sites, primary and specialty care offices and Karmanos cancer treatment sites.

The hospital did not say whether it had identified the source of the cyberattack or paid a ransom to regain control of its system.

According to the statement, it will continue to work with cybersecurity experts to determine if the attacker was able to access patient or employee information. The hospital will notify people if it determines their personal information was compromised, according to the statement.

More immediately, access to electronic medical records is restored. 

Related:

• Michigan’s McLaren Health Care confirms cyberattack, asks for ‘patience’
• Michigan Medicine latest health care system to be hit by cyberattack
• Cyberattack on Ascension Michigan, other sites, began with ‘honest mistake’

The “restoration process” was completed several days ahead of schedule, and throughout the disruption, clinical operations were “largely maintained,” according to a statement released Monday. 

With limited access to its normal technology systems following the attack, McLaren warned patients of possible wait times, and it asked patients to bring printed doctor’s orders, a list of current medications, or empty prescription bottles to their appointments.

A union official told Bridge Michigan earlier this month that staff had been able to quickly move to back-up procedures and paper charting with minimal interruptions to patient care.

Now begins the process of inputting patients’ health records that had been manually charted since the attack Aug. 5. That process will continue for “several weeks,” according to the statement released Monday.

McLaren, which says it operates Michigan’s largest network of cancer centers and providers, was among the latest victims in a wave of health care breaches throughout the nation, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The department earlier this year reported a higher than 250% increase in hacking and ransomware incidents over five years. The large breaches last year affected more than 134 million people, according to HHS.