Ardent Suffers Network Outages Due to Disruptive Ransomware Attack

Leading American healthcare provider, Ardent Health Services, and its affiliated entities discovered a system-related ransomware attack on the morning of November 23.

After discovering the incident, the company’s technology team immediately took its network offline and suspended user access to all applications, including corporate servers, Epic software, internet and clinical programs.

Additionally, law enforcement was informed, and third-party forensic and cybersecurity services were engaged to investigate the incident and its impact.

While the full extent of the compromised patient health or financial data is yet to be confirmed, Ardent continues with its investigation and system restoration measures.

‘’At this time, Ardent cannot confirm the extent of any patient health or financial data that has been compromised. Ardent is still determining the full impact of this event and it is too soon to know how long this will take or what data may be involved in this incident,’’ the update read.

״Ardent teams are working around the clock to bring our systems back online and to establish a timeline for returning all applications to fully operational. At this time, we do not have a firm timeline for restoring full access,’’ the update continued.

Despite the temporary disruption in certain aspects of its clinical and financial operations, Ardent continues to provide patient care safely in its hospitals, emergency rooms, and clinics.

To ensure timely delivery of urgent patient care, as a precautionary move, the healthcare provider has decided to reschedule some non-urgent, elective procedures. Impacted hospitals are redirecting emergency care patients to nearby hospitals, until the systems are fully restored.

The organization also assured patients that in case of a rescheduled appointment or procedure, they would be directly contacted by Ardent’s team.

Through its affiliated entities, Ardent Health Services owns and operates 30 hospitals and more than 200 care facilities in six states across the US.