Home health care provider Bayada has felt no impact from a major computer outage affecting Universal Health Services, a shutdown being widely attributed to a ransomware attack.
Universal Health Services this summer partnered with Bayada to expand its home health reach.
But Bayada spokeswoman Lisa Weinstein told McKnight’s the larger company’s outage had not affected systems or employees of the Philadelphia-based home care provider.
“While we are partnering with UHS on future joint ventures, we do not have any active data systems or platforms live in collaboration with them yet,” the company said in a statement.
UHS’ hospital and healthcare network has more than 400 facilities worldwide, and the company acknowledged Monday an “IT security” issue had taken the network down across those facilities.
Wired magazine reported Monday night that staff at one the nation’s largest hospital chains had resorted to back-up plans for paper documentation, turned away some patients and delayed appointments and test results.
Universal Health Services has yet to confirm its digital access is being held for ransom, but Bleeping Computer reported the shutdown mirrors tactics used previously by the Russian cybercriminal group Ryuk. The site reported widespread outages of even basic systems, from telephones to radiology.
UHS said no patient or employee data appears to have been accessed, copied or misused.
“We implement extensive IT security protocols and are working diligently with our IT security partners to restore IT operations as quickly as possible. In the meantime, our facilities are using their established back-up processes including offline documentation methods,” the company said its only public statement so far. “Patient care continues to be delivered safely and effectively.”
In July, UHS announced a Home Health Care services partnership with BAYADA, which “significantly expanded” the UHS home healthcare service line. The joint venture will establish a new entity that seeks to aid patients in recovery from an illness, injury or recent hospitalization.
This article originally appeared on McKnight's Senior Living
