Ascension reports cybersecurity incident and possible data breach

Ascension has discovered a cybersecurity incident disrupting its clinical operations and has advised business partners to disconnect from its systems.

The nonprofit health system said Wednesday it had discovered “unusual activity” on select network systems that it believes was due to a cybersecurity event. An Ascension spokesman did not respond to questions about the extent of the disruption.

Ascension said it is still assessing what sensitive information, if any, was compromised.

“We continue to assess the impact and duration of the disruption,” the spokesman said in a statement. “Our care teams are trained to deal with these types of disruptions and have procedures in place to ensure patient care continues to be safe and disrupted as minimally as possible.”

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Ascension is encouraging its partners to divest from its systems out of caution.

St. Louis-based Ascension said it had notified authorities and was working with cybersecurity firm Mandiant to investigate the incident.

The Ascension cybersecurity incident is one of a growing list of healthcare organizations affected by possible data breaches. In April, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan reported a breach affecting 13.4 million people.

Providers and health plans are still waiting to learn the extent of the Change Healthcare cyberattack in February that brought claims processing to a halt nationwide. Change, owned by UnitedHealth Group, is working to fully restore its systems.