BSA Health System's patient portal MyChart comes back online

The BSA Health System announced Thursday it has restored access to its patient portal, MyChart.

"Beginning today, patients can use MyChart to schedule or reschedule appointments, message providers, view medications and request prescription refills, access e-check in, view test results and visit summaries, and pay bills," a BSA update states. "It is important to note that MyChart users will be prompted to reset their passwords. Additionally, a small subset of MyChart features remain temporarily unavailable as a result of the recent downtime, including video visits and access to financial statements via MyChart. We are working diligently to restore these features and other systems as quickly as possible following the cybersecurity incident."

"We sincerely regret any inconvenience this incident has caused and encourage patients who have questions about their care or other clinical matters to contact their provider through MyChart or by phone," BSA said in its update.

As previously reported, on Nov. 23, BSA Health System became aware of a network outage due to a potential security incident that led its parent company, Ardent Health Services, to take its entire network offline in an abundance of caution. Ardent has since labeled this incident a ransomware attack.

In a Dec. 21 update, Ardent said that its teams "continue to make progress every day in restoring systems impacted by the recent cybersecurity incident and thank you for your ongoing patience" and that it has restored access to its patient portal while working to restore a small subset of features on the portal "as quickly as possible."

Ardent said that restoring MyChart access builds on the progress made Dec. 6 when the company restored access to Epic, its electronic medical record platform, and other core clinical and business systems: "Additional systems are coming back online daily and we continue to work diligently to restore other systems impacted by the incident."

"As always, safely caring for patients remains our highest priority and we continue to provide care through all locations, including our hospitals, clinics and emergency rooms," Ardent said. "All non-urgent procedures have resumed and our teams are working directly with any impacted patients to reschedule appointments and ensure they receive the care they need."

Ardent had also posted an update Dec. 19 that noted that teams continue working around the clock to restore access to all of its systems, with more coming back online on a regular basis. Access to Ardent’s websites may at times be slower than normal due to increased traffic. "Our investigation into this incident is thorough, ongoing, and will take time to complete," Ardent said. "If it is determined that any individuals’ protected health or personally identifiable information is involved, we will notify them in accordance with applicable law."

Additional updates for the impacted healthcare systems can be found online at ardenthealth.com/cybersecurityincident.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: BSA Health System's patient portal MyChart access restored