Enloe Medical Remains in EHR Downtime 2 Weeks After Cyberattack

Enloe Medical Center in Chico, California is still attempting to recover from a ransomware attack that struck on January 2. More than two weeks after the initial attack, the provider continues to care for patients under EHR downtime procedures, according to local news outlet Chico Enterprise-Record.

Enloe Medical was forced to reschedule elective procedures for some patients during the first week of the attack, as officials said all data stored on the hospital’s network was encrypted, and clinicians were unable to access patient information.

Phone systems at both the hospital and its clinic also went down. However, those services were restored by Jan. 3.

Caregivers are relying on “well-planned and frequently practiced backup protocols,” which is allowing care to continue during the restoration efforts. And since the initial report, there has been little to update.

Enloe Medical has been investigating the incident and has notified local law enforcement and the FBI. Officials continue to stress that patient information has not been accessed or compromised by the attackers, but it’s unclear of how the IT was able to come to that conclusion.

Joe Page, the marketing and communications manager for Enloe Medical, told Enterprise Record that patient care has continued with no issue or delays since the initial ransomware attack. However, “a big misconception is when something happens like this, it’s not something we can give an update on daily.”

Ransomware dominated healthcare headlines at the end of 2019, with Enloe joining an ever-increasing list of providers to experience a lengthy EHR outage after a cyberattack.

One of the most notable ransomware incidents from last year was an attack on Louisville, Kentucky-based Park DuValle Community Health Center. Officials reported that they paid the $70,000 ransom demand to unlock the medical records of about 20,000 patients, after the system had been locked down for nearly two months.

According to Coveware, the cost of ransomware attacks have exponentially increased in the last year. Ransom demands rose 184 percent during the second quarter of 2019, with the average victim experiencing 10 days of downtime.

Moving into 2020, security researchers have predicted the severity of these attacks will only worsen.