Ascension has restored electronic record systems to its Illinois hospitals about a month after a ransomware attack took them offline.
The hospital group that operates Ascension Resurrection in Chicago, St. Alexius in Hoffman Estates and Alexian Brothers in Elk Grove Village said it was a victim of a ransomware attack on May 8.
In what Ascension called an “unprecedented situation,” hospitals were forced to use paper records, and in the initial hours after the attack, it diverted some ambulances away from emergency departments.
Ascension said it expects electronic records to be restored at the rest of its hospitals by Friday. Electronic systems were still down Tuesday at hospitals in Indiana, Michigan and Washington, D.C.
The St. Louis-based hospital group operates 140 hospitals in 19 states. In Illinois, Ascension runs 15 hospitals and 230 sites of care.
Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago suffered a ransomware attack this year, taking down its phone, email and computer system for six weeks.
