The Journal Star reported that OSF HealthCare's computer systems were back up on April 25 following a two-day outage that forced the Peoria, Ill.-based health institution to implement downtime processes and policies. The outage occurred around 3:45 a.m. on April 23, as per the report.
OSF HealthCare, based in Peoria, Ill.- started informing patients on October 1 that their personal health information had been exposed for more than six weeks as a result of a cyberattack on its IT systems earlier this year. At numerous OSF HealthCare hospitals and sites, the computer systems included patient information and records.
OSF HealthCare is a non-profit Catholic healthcare organization based in Illinois and Michigan that administers a medical group, hospital system, and other healthcare facilities. OSF HealthCare is owned and run by the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis and is headquartered in Peoria, Illinois.
"During the outage, downtime procedures and protocols were closely followed, which included rescheduling some appointments and procedures," an OSF HealthCare spokesperson informed. "Patient safety is at the forefront of everything we do, and any decision to delay an appointment or procedure was made with safety in mind."
OSF HealthCare announced on its website on Oct. 1 that the outage was caused by a data security problem. After conducting an investigation, the health system learned that an unauthorized entity obtained access to its networks from March 7 to April 23. The hacker gained access to various files relating to OSF Little Company of Mary and OSF Saint Paul patients.
The compromised data include personally identifiable information, name, birthdates, Social Security numbers, treatment information, medication information, and health insurance information. As per the warning, financial information from a "smaller subset of patients" was also compromised.
Patients whose Social Security numbers or driver's license information were disclosed will receive free credit and identity monitoring services from the health system. OSF HealthCare further stated that new precautions and technical security procedures have been adopted to safeguard its network infrastructure.
OSF HealthCare operates 14 hospitals and a variety of other institutions throughout Illinois and Michigan. All institutions and facilities continued to operate and also admitted new patients during the April outage.
