Cyberattack disrupts services at two Massachusetts hospitals

A North Central Massachusetts nonprofit healthcare system with two community hospitals, a medical group and several other care facilities has taken its IT network offline and is diverting ambulance patients as it continues to respond to a cyberattack that hit last week.

Heywood Healthcare said it is continuing to care for inpatients at its 134-bed Heywood Hospital in Gardner, Massachusetts and its 25-bed critical access community hospital, Athol Hospital, in nearby Athol. But the hospitals are not accepting emergency care patients transported by ambulance. Radiology and laboratory services are also affected.

Local ambulance service, Central Massachusetts Emergency Medical Systems Corp. in Holden, Massachusetts on its Facebook page advised the community over the weekend that because Heywood and Athol hospitals CAT scan imaging services “will be down until further notice,” ambulances should transport stroke patients “to the next nearest primary stroke service hospital per state primary stroke service list.”

Read more at Healthcare Info Security