Cleveland-based University Hospitals says the vast majority of its appointments and procedures are proceeding as scheduled, even as a cybersecurity incident that began last week continues to keep its MyChart patient portal offline, according to Becker’s Hospital Review.
The health system detected unusual activity on its servers on Oct. 22 and disconnected its systems from the internet, Becker’s reported. University Hospitals is investigating the incident with outside experts and has been in communication with law enforcement.
“Patients are seeing virtually no impact on the level of care they receive. Please know University Hospitals remains open for business and is serving the community,” a spokesperson for the health system told Becker’s.
Patients still cannot reach the MyChart portal, where many normally check test results, message their care teams and manage appointments. Until access is restored, University Hospitals says it is calling patients directly to remind them of upcoming appointments.
“We apologize to our patients for the inconvenience this is causing,” the spokesperson told Becker’s, adding that the system is “working around the clock” to restore MyChart accessibility.
The latest update marks a shift from earlier this week. A spokesperson told Becker’s on Oct. 26 that the system had rescheduled some appointments and elective procedures because of the incident, and that some locations were dealing with network connectivity challenges and problems with insurance preauthorizations. The system said Oct. 26 that it had made significant progress restoring systems over the weekend but expected challenges to continue throughout the week.
University Hospitals has not disclosed the cause or full scope of the incident, whether patient information was compromised, or when MyChart access will be restored, Becker’s reported.
University Hospitals is one of Northeast Ohio’s largest health systems, so an outage affecting its patient portal touches thousands of households across the Cleveland area and beyond. Health systems nationally have faced a rising number of cybersecurity incidents in recent years, and recovery often proceeds in stages, with clinical systems restored before patient-facing tools like portals.
For Northeast Ohio patients, the practical guidance is simple: keep scheduled appointments unless the hospital calls to change them, and expect appointment reminders by phone rather than through the portal until the system announces that MyChart is back.
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