A University of California San Diego School of Medicine study highlights the impact a ransomware attack on an individual health system can have on regional hospital operations and patient care.
The study, published in the May 8, 2023, online edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), analyzed data from two emergency departments that were adjacent to a month-long health care ransomware attack on neighboring hospitals.
“Cyberattacks on healthcare organizations are growing in frequency and sophistication, which can have real patient care impacts that extend far beyond a single affected hospital,” said Christian Dameff, M.D., first author of the study, in a statement. Dameff is an assistant professor of medicine, emergency medicine and computer science and engineering at UC San Diego School of Medicine, and an emergency medicine physician at UC San Diego Health. He is also a hacker and security researcher interested in the intersection of healthcare, patient safety, and cybersecurity.
“During the attack and post-attack phases, significant increases in patient census, ambulance arrivals, waiting room times, patients left without being seen, total patient length of stay, county-wide emergency medical services diversion, and acute stroke care metrics were seen in the unaffected ED,” the article states. “Anecdotal reports from clinicians stated that the associated disruptions of the cyberattack were most pronounced during the first 2 weeks of the attack and likely the result of early chaos when no mitigations existed yet for hospitals to develop ad hoc workarounds.”
The study's authors suggest that targeted hospital cyberattacks may be associated with disruptions of non-targeted hospitals within a community and should be considered a regional disaster.
“Recognizing that cybersecurity attacks can impact adjacent hospitals is a step towards realizing the need for regional cooperation just like a natural disaster or other major emergency,” said Christopher Longhurst, M.D., senior author of the study, in a statement. He is a clinical professor of medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine and chief medical officer and chief digital officer at UC San Diego Health.
