Aloha State practice recovering from apparent cyberattack
Three and a half weeks after abruptly closing shop due to unspecified technical difficulties, Hawaii Radiologic Associates is reopening its doors in stages.
HRA started ramping back up Monday, contacting breast biopsy and screening mammography patients as a first step toward fully restoring all services, according to a Nov. 15 item in the Hawaii Tribune Herald.
“We’ve been working long hours seven days a week with teams of experts to get back to serving our community as quickly and securely as possible,” executive director Ryan Parnell tells the newspaper, adding that HRA is scheduling these follow-up appointments in the order of the original appointments.
Hawaii Radiologic Associates is based on the Big Island and had been turning away patients since Oct. 20.
For several days after, numerous patients and at least one referring physician voiced frustration over a lack of communication coming from the practice.
On Nov. 3 a local TV news station reported the source of the technical difficulties—which included a phone outage and downed website—was a cyberattack.
In the Nov. 15 update, the Tribune Herald reports an investigation into the incident “is still ongoing, and HRA has not yet provided information on what type of attack occurred or whether any patient data was compromised.”
HRA serves roughly 200 patients a day at its three locations, Parnell tells the newspaper.
Earlier press reports noted a local hospital experiencing an uptick in imaging volumes as a result of HRA’s practice-wide downtime.
“Those [patients] looking to reschedule an appointment or schedule a new appointment with HRA will be able to do so next week,” Parnell says. “We’re using all phone and staff resources to begin contacting patients involuntarily canceled due to our outage.”
“We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this disruption may have caused,” Parnell adds. “We are looking forward to continuing our relationship with the community.”
The Hawaii Tribune Herald Nov. 15 update is here (free trial subscription required).
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.