A new hospital cyberattack left patients without care – Keep your records safe

Come with me. Imagine you rush to the emergency room, but after five hours, they tell you to find another hospital. Or you check in at your specialist’s office for a chronic condition, only to find they’ve lost your entire medical history. Both of these scenarios just happened.

Yesterday’s cyberattack on one of the largest health systems in the U.S., Ascension, was bad — really bad. Before you say, “Another data breach? So what, Kim?” know that having your records sold on the dark web is the least of your worries.

Code red

The hack on Ascension sent its 140 hospitals and 40 senior facilities into full-blown chaos. It took down patient record systems and medication prescribing systems, forcing doctors and nurses to rely on paper charts and handwritten records to keep things running.

One patient, Zackery Lopez, checked himself in at an Ascension-run hospital in Southfield, Michigan. He was suffering from internal bleeding and thinking his cancer had returned. Zackery waited a grueling seven hours before a nurse could help him. As he waited, he saw patients checking themselves out.

Keep your health records safe

When hospital systems get hacked, it’s a matter of life and death. And it’s happening more and more often. Keeping physical records sounds old-school, but if digital systems go down, it could save your life.

  • Start with a list. Make a list of all your meds, including dosages and names, and keep both digital and physical copies. Store a physical copy in your purse or wallet if you’re currently in treatment or in case of emergency.

I also recommend compiling your full medical records and having a printed copy on hand. If you have an iPhone, you can sync them to your Health app:

Add your health records

  • Open the Health app on your iPhone or iPad.
  • If you’re on your iPhone, tap the Summary tab, then your profile picture in the upper-right corner. On iPad, tap Profile in the upper-left corner.
  • Scroll down to Features > Health Records > Get Started.
  • Search for your hospital or network, then tap it. FYI: It’ll ask you to add location services to find hospitals and health networks near you, but you don’t have to enable it to search.
  • Under Available to Connect, choose Connect AccountSign in to your health care provider’s website or app.
  • Wait for your records to update. It might take a minute for your information to appear.
  • Repeat these steps for each supported provider. Start by going to Features, then tap Add Account.

View your health records

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Read this before you hop on a rental scooter this summer

Like millions of Americans, you’re probably planning your summer vacation. Don’t forget to take some precautions before you leave town. Tap or click here for five travel tips to keep you safe.

Once you visit an unfamiliar city, you might decide to rent a scooter to get around. Technically known as shared mobility devices, they have become a common sight around tourist areas. Like how bicycle rentals work, you simply swipe your bank card, and a scooter is made available.

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OpenAI rolls out ChatGPT-4o: What to know

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It’s much smarter and faster than before, and it will be available for free. Plus, what happens when you’re in the emergency room and your hospital gets hacked? We talk to Zackery Ryan, a patient who was at the hospital during last week’s Ascension cyberattack.

🚨 Hospital nightmare: The Ascension hospital cyberattack in May 2024 shut down computers for weeks, and it all started with one employee who mistakenly downloaded a malicious file. Ascension handles roughly 3 million emergency room visits and performs nearly 600,000 surgeries per year.

New law protects you from surprise medical bills after an emergency

You can’t escape medical expenses. Whether you are on regular medication or treatment, have an annual checkup or experience an unplanned visit to the doctor, the bills will follow.

You could be on prescription medication to treat a temporary ailment or a lifetime plan. Either way, you could be facing some hefty costs. Fortunately, there’s a way to save up to 80% on your prescriptions. Tap or click here to learn how.

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