All six hospitals in the UVM Health Network — including Middlebury’s Porter Medical Center — have experienced a major tech outage that has made electronic patient records inaccessible, which has had a direct impact on patient care and appointments.
As of Thursday afternoon, officials said Porter Medical Center was maintaining all patient services.
Health network officials and the Federal Bureau of Investigation said the outage was caused by a malicious cyberattack. There is no timeline for restoring the system, according to Neal Goswami, a spokesperson for the UVM Health Network.
UVMHN late Thursday confirmed that it is working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Vermont Department of Public Safety to investigate the cyberattack. “We expect that it will take some time to restore and we are working as quickly as possible to return to normal operations,” the network said in a press release. On person familiar with the incident said it could take a couple weeks to get the whole thing shaken out.
The cyber attack had different impacts at each of the UVMHN affiliates.
Reuters reported Wednesday that the FBI is investigating more than two dozen ransomware attacks at hospitals around the country. An Eastern European group, known within the security industry as UNC-1878, is thought to be behind the cyberattacks, the business news organization says. Hospitals in Oregon, New York and California have been affected.
“The outage has led to a variable impact on each affiliate as to how patient care is delivered,” Goswami said in a statement Tuesday night. The UVM Health Network has four affiliate hospitals in Vermont and two in New York.
The network is attempting to reach patients who will feel the impact of the inaccessible electronic records. “Our staff is following well-practiced standby procedures to ensure safe patient care,” Goswami said.
MyChart Patient Portal on Thursday morning was down across the UVM Health Network.
At UVM Medical Center, elective procedures scheduled for Thursday were being postponed until Friday.
Patients may experience delays at Central Vermont Medical Center in Berlin and Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital in Plattsburgh, N.Y.; UVM Home Health and Hospice; Porter Medical Center in Middlebury; and Alice Hide Medical Center in Malone, N.Y.; are “maintaining patient services.”