A cyberattack last week is forcing the University of Mississippi Medical Center to keep its clinics closed and cancel all elective procedures on Monday and Tuesday, the academic medical center announced.
“Medical Center teams continue to respond to the impact of our recent cyberattacks alongside federal and state agencies and experts in cybersecurity,” UMMC said on social media. “Clinics statewide will be closed on Monday, Feb. 23, and Tuesday, Feb. 24, and elective procedures on those days are canceled. Appointments will be rescheduled when possible.”
The social media update did note that UMMC hospitals and emergency departments in Jackson, Grenada, Madison County, and Holmes County will remain open.
“We apologize for this continued disruption of access to our services,” the update continued.
Dr. LouAnn Woodward, UMMC’s vice chancellor for health affairs, issued a statement Saturday afternoon, saying her teams are working hard to keep providing “exceptional service to our patients and families” amid the disruption.
“Our care teams continue to provide exceptional service to our patients and families. I know this intrusion into our system has negatively impacted some of our patients, but please know that we are using every resource at our disposal to resolve this issue in a safe and effective manner,” Woodward said.
Early Thursday morning, patients and employees at UMMC confirmed that its record system had been shut down, and other systems, including the hospital’s website, some phone lines, and email, were not functioning correctly. Later in the morning, UMMC officials confirmed that a cyberattack was to blame.
UMMC officials said the hackers “have communicated with us,” and they are working with the FBI and U.S. Department of Homeland Security, among other state and federal partners, to restore networks. Some networks were compromised and others were shut down by UMMC out of precaution.
As of the Thursday press conference, investigators were trying to determine whether patients’ private information was accessed, Woodward said. No further update has been provided on patient data exposure.
UMMC is one of Mississippi’s largest health care providers, operating seven hospitals – including the state’s largest in Jackson – 35 clinics, and more than 200 telehealth sites statewide.
