Healthcare giant Universal Health Services, Inc. confirmed an information technology security incident in the early morning hours of September 27.
As a result, the company suspended user access to its information technology applications in the United States. Universal has behavioral health sites in Dover (Dover Behavioral Health) and the Newark area (Rockford Center). The company is based in King of Prussia, PA.
Reports indicated that the company suffered a ransomware attack with the goal of extracting funds from the victim. Personnel reportedly moved to paper.
Universal is working with its security partners to restore its information technology operations as quickly as possible.
“In the meantime, while this matter may result in temporary disruptions to certain aspects of our clinical and financial operations, our acute care and behavioral health facilities are utilizing their established back-up processes including offline documentation methods. Patient care continues to be delivered safely and effectively,” a release stated. “At this time, we have no evidence that patient or employee data was accessed, copied or misused.”
Universal Health Services, Inc. is a Fortune 500 company with annual revenues of $11.4 billion for 2019. Tbe company has about 90,000 employees and operates 26 acute care hospitals, 330 behavioral health facilities, 41 outpatient facilities and ambulatory care access points, an insurance offering, a physician network and related services in 37 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the United Kingdom.
