St. Mark’s Goes Pen-and-Paper Following ‘Network Security Incident’

By ANDY BEHLEN  St. Mark’s Medical Center in La Grange experienced what it is calling a “network security incident” on Sunday, March 20. St. Mark’s CEO Rick Montelongo said the hospital has no evidence any patient information was compromised.

Montelongo said the hospital shut down its entire computer network within an hour of discovering the breach, which he described as a piece of malware.  

St. Mark’s disclosed the incident over a week later, on Monday, March 28, after the Record heard about the breach and asked hospital administrators about it.

A press release issued by the hospital Wednesday stated that the hospital is working with IT experts, Microsoft and other system vendors to “evaluate, contain and remediate the incident.”

“Steps are being taken to enhance network safeguards while the investigation continues,” the press release said.

Montelongo said the hospital is using backup systems, including a backup network provider, while the investigation progresses. He added that some hospital work has reverted to pen-and-paper systems.

Montelongo said the hospital remains open and is fully functional. However, the Record spoke with some patients who said they have been unable to make appointments due to the computer problems.

St. Mark’s network troubles come as a wave of cyber attacks have hit hospitals across the country. According to a story in the New York Times on Tuesday, the Medstar chain of hospitals in Washington and Maryland was hit by hack that forced it to revert to paper systems and prevented patients from booking appointments.

Other hospitals in California and Kentucky have fallen prey to so-called “ransomware” attacks, in which hackers have attempt to extort money from hospitals before releasing the systems. Reuters reported Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles paid hackers $17,000 in February after they paralyzed the hospital’s network for 10 days.