Is VMFH online records nightmare over? Parent company gives update on ransomware attack
Access to online medical records was slowly returning to a local health system’s providers, weeks after a ransomware attack led to systems going offline in early October.
The CommonSpirit Health network outage has affected Virginia Mason Franciscan Health medical sites and hospitals, particularly legacy CHI Franciscan sites in Pierce, King and Kitsap counties. Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle was largely unaffected, according to the health system.
CommonSpirit Health, in its latest update, said that it was in the process “of restoring those systems that were taken offline.”
It stated that for VMFH sites in the Puget Sound region, providers “are now able to access their patients’ electronic health records.”
It added, “Some system functionality, including patient access to MyChart, is expected to be available in the coming days.”
The MyChart patient portal has been down since Oct. 3, along with medical staff’s access to online patient records.
“We are only taking steps to restore systems when it is safe and secure to do so,” CommonSpirit added.
The receptionist at a VMFH-affiliated medical office in Bremerton told The News Tribune on Tuesday morning the office’s online access was “99 percent back.”
An employee with St. Anthony Hospital in Gig Harbor told The News Tribune via email in response to questions that their online record access returned Sunday night-Monday morning.
MyChart access as of Tuesday morning remained offline, with the link instead going to a CommonSpirit update page about the ransomware attack and how the health care provider was working to bring online access back.
According to an internal update shared by a source with The News Tribune, CommonSpirit Health outlined how widespread the network outage was, stating that “In the Midwest division, we have restored read-only access to our (electronic health records) in our acute care settings.”
It added that “In Tennessee, Georgia and Texas, we have restored read-only access” to the system’s electronic health records.
The system said it was working to expand read-only electronic health record access “throughout our Southeast division.”
Little information is known about the cyberattack, other than a statement issued by CommonSpirit Health last week confirming it was a ransomware attack. Sites operating under the CommonSpirit Health umbrella have reported outages in multiple states.
In the ensuing days and weeks, some patients have faced canceled appointments, rescheduling challenges for appointments, infusions or surgeries, and extended wait times in clinics as staff made their way through paper charting and other workarounds.
Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health formed in 2019 through alignment of Catholic Health Initiatives and Dignity Health. It has become one of the largest nonprofit health systems in the U.S., with more than 1,000 care sites in 21 states, serving 20 million patients, according to its website.
Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, part of the CommonSpirit network, completed the merger of their Seattle and Tacoma-based health systems in January 2021.
