Outpatient appointments rescheduled at Carthage hospital, Claxton-Hepburn after cybersecurity issue | Health Matters | #hacking | #cybersecurity | #infosec | #comptia | #pentest | #ransomware

“We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience the phone outage may have caused,” Rich Duvall, chief executive officer, at Carthage Area Hospital, said in the statement. “Patient care and community access are our top priorities. We are pleased to report phone service has been fully restored thanks to the prompt response and support of our IT team and CREG Systems. The Emergency Department is still on diversion orders until the facility can become fully optimized.”

Due to the cybersecurity incident that impacted both Carthage Area Hospital and Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center in Ogdensburg, all outpatient services at North Country Orthopaedic Group scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday will be rescheduled.

For Claxton-Hepburn patients, this will include the Cardiology Lab and outpatient lab draws. Dialysis, cancer treatment and wound care appointments are not affected and will continue as scheduled.

All patients with appointments that need to be rescheduled will be contacted. The hospital says any patient with urgent health care issues should still call their health care provider. Patients with emergency conditions should go to the nearest emergency department.

The hospital said that after days of investigation and system assessment there continues to be no evidence that any patient or employee information has been compromised.

Its IT teams continue to provide information and receive technical support from the FBI, the state Department of Health and the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Services.