Adrian Johnson
TLDR:
- The network outage at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago has entered its sixth day as the hospital investigates a cyberattack.
- A call center has been set up to handle non-urgent patient requests and provide information about appointments and prescription refills.
- The outage has caused inconvenience for families with appointments and some pediatricians in the hospital’s network.
- The FBI is assisting with the investigation, and it is unclear when the network will be back online.
The network outage at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago has entered its sixth day as the hospital investigates a cyberattack. The hospital has taken its computers, internet, and phones offline in response to the attack. “We are taking this very seriously and have launched an investigation with the support of leading experts and are working in collaboration with law enforcement agencies,” said hospital administrators. A call center has been established to address non-urgent patient requests, care questions, appointment information, and prescription refill requests. The call center is operational Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from 8 a.m. to noon. Patients can visit luriechildrens.org for the most up-to-date information about the hospital’s operations.
The ongoing outage has caused inconvenience for families with appointments, as well as some pediatricians in the hospital’s network. Patients have had trouble communicating with their specialists, but some workarounds have been found. Emergency services have not been impacted by the outage, and Lurie continues to alert families with notices on its website and social media. Providers still do not have access to all patient records, as many are only available digitally. The hospital has made efforts to maintain communication with referring pediatricians. The cyberattack is still under investigation, with the FBI providing assistance. It is unknown when the hospital’s network will be back online.
