Prevea, HSHS outage result of “Cyber Security incident”

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) – Officials with Prevea and HSHS are now confirming their service outage this week is the result of a “cyber security incident.”

Meanwhile if you’re a patient paying a bill from Prevea Health or the HSHS hospital system, you are asked to pay with cash or check for the time being while the health system deals with an ongoing outage.

“If a patient requests or is required to make a payment for services they’ve received, they can do so at any Prevea health center PSR desk,” Prevea Health says in a Thursday update on its website. “We are accepting cash and check only at this time.”

Prevea also wants to note that they aren’t currently emailing or calling patients to ask for payments or notify patients that a new statement is available.

HSHS and Prevea Health continue to suffer a widespread communications outage. A statement Tuesday afternoon said hospitals’ main telephone lines are working again.

People trying to reach a loved one in the hospital who doesn’t have a personal cell phone can call the hospital directly at these numbers:

• HSHS St. Vincent Hospital, Green Bay – (920) 433-0111
• HSHS St. Mary’s Hospital Medical Center, Green Bay – (920) 498-4200
• HSHS St. Nicholas Hospital, Sheboygan – (920) 459-8300
• HSHS St. Clare Memorial Hospital, Oconto Falls – (920) 846-3444
• HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital, Eau Claire – (715) 717-4121
• HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital, Chippewa Falls – (715) 723-1811

Prevea Health is also using its main phone line, (920) 496-4700.

Callers might encounter busy signals or other connection issues since all calls are going through those numbers.

Prevea says it will post updates for the two health systems on a website, www.prevea.com/home/updates.

Prevea Health posted on its website that the outage was affecting phones, internet and communications systems, and clinical and administrative applications. Action 2 News asked if this was a cyber attack. HSHS and Prevea Health representatives responded saying they have “no further information to provide at this time.”

All 15 HSHS hospitals in Wisconsin and Illinois are impacted. There are 6 hospitals in Wisconsin and 9 hospitals in Illinois.

Here is a list of Wisconsin hospitals impacted: HSHS St. Vincent Hospital (Green Bay), St. Mary’s Hospital Medical Center (Green Bay), St. Nicholas Hospital (Sheboygan), St. Clare Memorial Hospital (Oconto Falls), St. Joseph’s Hospital (Chippewa Falls), and Sacred Heart Hospital (Eau Claire). Prevea said its phone service has been sporadic and MyPrevea.com and MyChart are unavailable.

Here is a list of Illinois hospitals impacted: St. John’s Hospital (Springfield), St. Mary’s Hospital (Decatur), St. Francis Hospital (Litchfield), St. Anthony’s Memorial Hospital (Effingham), St. Joseph’s Hospital (Highland), St. Joseph’s Hospital (Breese), St. Elizabeth’s Hospital (O’Fallon), Holy Family Hospital (Greenville), and Good Shepherd Hospital (Shelbyville).

People should keep their scheduled appointments.

HSHS has provided a video detailing what happened – it is now described as a cyber security incident:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1Gwpt8ghkE

In addition, CEO Damond Boatwright has recorded a video with further explanations:

https://vimeo.com/860297636/035ae58e94?share=copy

Damond Boatwright said that they are working with third-party experts as well as law enforcement to investigate the matter further and develop safety measures to avoid any cyber security incidents in the future.

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