Facility diverts stroke and trauma patients amid cyberattack on large radiology practice
Healthcare providers in Minnesota were recently forced to divert stroke and trauma patients after a cyberattack impacted one large local radiology practice.
Hackers reportedly hit Eden Prairie-based Consulting Radiologists Ltd. around Feb. 11, knocking out the organization’s phone lines as of Friday. The private practice employs about 75 radiologists, servicing 100 healthcare facilities across Minnesota and the surrounding area, according to its website.
CRL issued a statement following the incident, noting that it was able to "act quickly to interrupt these efforts and prevent a full-scale attack." The practice has since "acted quickly" to secure its systems.
"We have sites up and running and are still providing patient care. We are continuing to work closely with our healthcare providers and apologize for any inconvenience caused," spokesperson Darla Safarian told Radiology Business late Friday. "As part of our ongoing investigation, we are also assessing the full scope of this attack, but at this time, it does not appear that any data or personal information was taken."
Allina Health system facilities had been forced to rely on in-house imaging services during the interruption, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported Thursday. A spokeswoman said the attack has affected “a big portion” of the system’s locations, which rely on Consulting Radiologists’ support.
“People have had to put in extra time for diagnostics, but none of our sites have had to divert patients,” Conny Bergerson told the news outlet.
Small facilities, with no in-house rads, have felt the biggest impact. At Glencoe Regional Health (not an Allina hospital), providers were sending stroke and trauma patients elsewhere for imaging work. Cardiologists at the hospital’s heart institute also were pitching in to read scans, according to the report.
Read more about the attack from Pioneer Press:
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.