NJ hospitals make progress after crippling cyberattacks

✅ Two separate NJ health care systems were struck during Thanksgiving weekend

✅ Both hired outside companies to investigate the source of the attack

✅ It's not known yet if personal, medical and financial records were exposed

Two New Jersey health care providers say they have made progress towards restoring services and networks following cyberattacks over a week ago.

Access has been regained to EpicCare, the electronic medical record platform at Pascack Valley Medical Center in Westwood and Mountainside Medical Center in Montclair, and other core clinical and business systems, according to a statement from Ardent Health Systems, which owns the two hospitals with Hackensack Meridian Health.

Pascack Valley and Mountainside are the only two Hackensack Meridian Health facilities in New Jersey affected by a ransomware attack that happened Thanksgiving weekend.

The company's emergency rooms are also accepting all patients but some non-emergency procedures remain paused.

Operations near normal

Capital Health spokeswoman Kate Stier told New Jersey 101.5 that all services of its three hospitals in Trenton and Hopewell plus offices in Mercer, Burlington and Bucks counties are available including some that were initially unavailable, such as outpatient radiology.

"We have continued to care for patients in both hospitals, including our emergency rooms, in our practices, and at all other locations. We are prioritizing safe patient care while finishing our work to restore all systems," Stier said.

Both Capital Health and Hackensack Meridian are using outside forensic investigation firms to determine the source of the respective attacks. They also continue to investigate if any personal, medical or financial data was exposed in the attacks.

A cyberattack at CentraState Medical Center in Freehold Township revealed that personal data of 617,000 patients on an archived database was stolen during a breach in December 2022. an "unauthorized person" obtained a copy of an archived database that stored patient information. No financial or payment information was kept in the archive.

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