Hospitals in several states are diverting emergency room patients after a cyberattack hit their parent company.
Ardent Health Services said it became aware of a cyber incident on Nov. 23, and determined it was a ransomware attack.
The company, which oversees 30 hospitals in six states in the U.S., was reportedly forced to divert emergency room patients at facilities in Kansas, New Mexico and Texas.
“In an abundance of caution, our facilities are rescheduling some non-emergent, elective procedures and diverting some emergency room patients to other area hospitals until systems are back online,” Ardent Health Services said in a statement.
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The company said it reported the incident to law enforcement, which is reportedly investigating. It added that third-party forensic and threat intelligence advisers are also looking into the breach.
Ardent said it doesn't yet fully know the extent of information that was compromised.
“Ardent is still determining the full impact of this event and it is too soon to know how long this will take or what data may be involved in this incident,” the company said.
On-demand video visits are temporarily unavailable, Ardent said. Patients with appointments are reportedly being notified about rescheduling.
It's unclear when Ardent will have all of its systems fully operational again.
"Ardent teams are working around the clock to bring our systems back online and to establish a timeline for returning all applications to fully operational," the company said.
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