Kettering Health is investigating a cybersecurity incident that disrupted its systems.
Kettering Health is responding to a cybersecurity incident that led to a systemwide technology outage across its facilities on the morning of May 20, prompting the cancellation of elective inpatient and outpatient procedures scheduled for the day.
“We are currently experiencing a cybersecurity incident resulting from unauthorized access to our network,” the health system says in a statement. “We have taken steps to contain and mitigate this activity and are actively investigating and monitoring the situation.”
The outage limited access to certain patient care systems across the organization. While emergency departments and clinics remain open and continue to see patients, elective procedures were postponed and will be rescheduled.
Kettering Health emphasized that patient care remains a priority. “We have procedures and plans in place for these types of situations and will continue to provide safe, high-quality care for patients currently in our facilities,” the organization says.
In addition to the system disruption, Kettering Health notes it has received reports of scam phone calls from individuals posing as health system employees and requesting credit card payments for medical expenses. “While it is customary for Kettering Health to contact patients by phone to discuss payment options for medical bills, out of an abundance of caution, we will not be making calls to ask for or receive payment over the phone until further notice,” the health system states.
Kettering Health urges anyone who receives a suspicious call to report it to local law enforcement. At this time, the organization notes that it has not established a connection between the scam calls and the cybersecurity incident.
The organization says its leadership is working with internal teams and external partners to restore services “quickly and securely” and will continue to provide updates as new information becomes available.
Kettering Health’s website continues to display a banner on Wednesday, May 21, alerting users to an ongoing systemwide technology outage.
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