Cybersecurity Incident Disrupts Clinical Operations at Ascension Health Facilities in Birmingham Metropolitan Area

On Wednesday, Ascension Health announced that they may have experienced a cybersecurity incident leading to disruptions in clinical operations at their facilities in the Birmingham metropolitan area. The system detected unusual activity on select technology network systems on Wednesday, May 8, which they believe was caused by a cybersecurity event.

The affected facilities include St. Vincent’s Birmingham, St. Vincent’s Blount, St. Vincent’s Chilton, St. Vincent’s East, St. Vincent’s St. Clair, and St. Vincent’s One Nineteen. Ascension Health has initiated an investigation and activated remediation efforts in response to the incident. Some systems have been interrupted as a result of the ongoing investigation.

Ascension Health’s care teams are trained to handle such disruptions and have implemented procedures to ensure patient care delivery remains safe and minimally impacted by the disruption affecting clinical operations at their facilities. The health care system is assessing the impact and duration of the disruption and companies that work with Ascension Health were advised to temporarily disconnect from their environment until further notice.

Mandiant, a third-party expert, has been engaged by Ascension Health to assist with the investigation while relevant authorities have also been notified of the incident. Ascension Health is working to determine if any sensitive information has been affected by the situation and if it is determined that sensitive information was compromised, they will notify and provide support to those individuals in accordance with regulatory and legal guidelines.