UMC Health System based in Lubbock, Texas reported the progress of its recovery from the ransomware attack in September. The ransomware attack impacted several systems, including the systems used by Texas Tech Physicians and Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. Although the clinics continued to provide healthcare services to patients, their electronic medical record (EHR) system and other computer programs were disabled to control the impact of the attack. Because critical systems were not accessible, emergency as well as non-emergency patients were redirected to other hospitals.
UMC Health manages 30 clinics in Eastern New Mexico and West Texas, which include a pediatric hospital, a health and wellness hospital, and a Level 1 Trauma Center. Most of the redirects to other hospitals have already been discontinued for emergency patients coming in an ambulance, however, some patients are still brought to other facilities.
On October 11, 2024, which is more or less three weeks after the attack, UMC Health reported the restoration of its EHR system in all areas. Its MyCareTeam patient website including the Find-a-Physician page was also restored online. Since the patient portal is accessible on the web, patients can connect with their doctors using the portal. Work on re-establishing access to other patient-facing systems and internal applications for patient care are still in progress. Texas Tech Physicians and Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center are still encountering outages because of the attack.
UMC Health’s update posted on its website said that although it has achieved important progress in its restoration process, it is still investigating the nature and extent of the breach. It is also working together with third-party organizations to regain full operations. The ransomware attack investigation is continuing and it is still too soon to say that patient data was viewed or stolen during the attack or that there was a HIPAA privacy violation.
Image credits: UMC Health System / volha_r, AdobeStock
