Mississippi health system shuts down clinics statewide after ransomware attack

The University of Mississippi Medical Center has closed all of its clinics in the state in response to a ransomware attack that impacted its phone and electronic systems, disrupting patient care.

The attack was launched on Thursday, compromising the medical center’s systems, including its electronic health records platform Epic and its IT network. It’s unclear how long the effects of the attack would last or whether patient information had been compromised.

UMMC vice chancellor for health affairs LouAnn Woodward said in a Friday statement that the university was working with law enforcement, including the FBI, to resolve the system outage. Out of an abundance of caution, she said, UMMC had taken all systems offline until they could test and confirm that they were safe to use.

“To use a medical phrase — we have stopped the bleeding,” Woodward said. “And while we know much more now than we did 24 hours ago, the extent and the scope of the intrusion is still not fully understood.”

UMMC hospitals and emergency departments are still operational. Hospital officials halted care at the center’s total 35 clinics in the state. Appointments, including chemotherapy and elective procedures, were canceled as of Friday.

Patients can reschedule appointments, Woodward said, adding that the medical center was working to prioritize the continuation of ongoing, time-sensitive care.
For ongoing patient care, staff were employing paper documentation rather than electronic.

“I can’t tell you when — but I can promise as soon as we possibly can — we will be back up and running full steam ahead,” Woodward said. “The bad guys won’t keep us down.”

Woodward said at a Thursday press conference that the attackers had communicated with hospital officials and that it was working with law enforcement and cybersecurity specialists on next steps.

Robert Eikhoff, the FBI special agent in charge of the Jackson, Miss., field office said the agency’s priority is helping the medical center get its systems back up and running to restore care to patients.

“We are in the process of surging resources, both locally and nationally, into this incident to make sure that we are standing alongside with UMMC and their vendors as we look to understand the extent of this attack,” he said.