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Services at Brockton hospital return to normal more than a week after cyberattack
The cybersecurity incident prompted the hospital to declare a “code black,” resulting in diverted ambulances and paused operations.
A Brockton hospital is resuming normal operations after a cybersecurity incident earlier this month caused it to temporarily shut down some services.
Information systems for Signature Healthcare, a leading provider with more than a dozen locations statewide, were affected April 6 by “suspicious activity” found on their network. The incident impacted services at a Brockton hospital and pharmacies in Brockton and East Bridgewater.
“We moved to down-time procedures to ensure high-quality patient care and safety,” the provider announced. “We are working with outside resources to help us investigate the incident and restore operations as quickly as possible.”
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Inpatient care, urgent care, ambulatory physician practices, and walk-in emergency services all remained open last week. Scheduled surgeries and procedures also continued as usual, according to Signature Healthcare.
However, ambulance traffic was diverted, and all chemotherapy infusion services were canceled April 7. Chemotherapy patients were asked to call the Greene Cancer Center to reschedule their treatments.
Throughout the week, two Signature Healthcare pharmacies on Liberty Street in Brockton and on Donalds Way in East Bridgewater were open for consultation but unable to fill prescriptions. Chemotherapy services resumed for new patients and were “phased in” for existing patients “based on safety protocols.”
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Additionally, the provider’s Patient Portal System was unavailable, lab work and tests were delayed, and medical records requests went unfulfilled, according to Signature Healthcare. On Wednesday morning, the hospital announced that it would lift its code black status and begin receiving ambulances again.
“We have reached this important milestone in system recovery and restoration of services after the cyber incident as a direct result of the round-the-clock work of our staff, particularly our IT teams, clinical staff, and operational leaders,” Bob Haffey, CEO of Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital, said in a press release. “We are working closely with a team of outside experts who continue to guide us as we follow a phased approach to ensure stability and security.”
The hospital said that some systems would remain offline and “continue to be restored” in the coming days as experts conduct forensic work on the cybersecurity incident.
“We are grateful to our employees, partners, and community for their patience, flexibility, and dedication throughout this challenging time,” the hospital said Wednesday.
Cyberattacks on Massachusetts healthcare providers are not unheard of. Last October, two Heywood Medical Group hospitals in Gardner and Athol faced a network outage which was later discovered to be caused by a cybersecurity breach.
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