Cybersecurity news for hospitals and health systems

Four health systems have disclosed that their hospitals may have leaked millions of patients' medical information to Meta, Facebook's parent company. 

West Des Moines, Iowa-based MercyOne started restoring its EHR and payroll systems weeks after a ransomware attack began immobilizing the IT networks of its parent company, Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health.

Advocate Aurora Health said it installed "pixels" on its website that may have breached the medical data of as many as 3 million patients.

From a third-party data breach to the Chicago-based CommonSpirit ransomware attack that shut down IT systems at affiliated hospitals around the country, here are eight health systems that have been affected by a cybersecurity incident since Sept. 30:

Ridgewood, N.J.-based the Valley Hospital notified patients that some of their personal information was compromised after documents at an outpatient COVID-19 testing facility were improperly discarded. 

Employees at West Des Moines, Iowa-based MercyOne will be paid the same amount this Friday as they were for their last paycheck due to the ransomware attack on parent company CommonSpirit Health, KCCI reported Oct. 18.

As companies and organizations continue to face an escalation in cyberattacks, CIOs say their top investment priority in 2023 will be cybersecurity, The Wall Street Journal reported Oct. 17. 

Seattle-based Virginia Mason Franciscan Health has begun the process of restoring its IT systems that were taken offline during the ransomware attack that impacted Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health hospitals across the country. 

Raleigh, N.C.-based WakeMed is notifying patients that some of their data may have been inadvertently sent to Facebook.

Six health systems have reported that some of their patient and employee data has been compromised due to a ransomware attack against third-party printing vendor Kaye-Smith.