Lurie Children's Hospital provides update on cyberattack

CHICAGO - Lurie Children's Hospital continues to grapple with network issues after falling victim to a cyberattack almost a week ago.

Parents of patients have anxiously awaited news about when their children can resume receiving necessary care, but communication from the hospital has been limited.

According to the hospital's website, active efforts are underway to address the cybersecurity incident. The website provides a contact number for a call center where individuals can seek information about prescription refills and updates on scheduled appointments.

However, the hospital cannot currently provide a definite timeline for resolving the matter.

In a Monday night update, the hospital expressed understanding for the inconvenience and concern caused to patients and emphasized the time-consuming nature of the resolution process. The hospital assured the public that experienced and empathetic internal and external teams are diligently working on the matter.

Hospitals have increasingly become targets for hackers, with six in ten healthcare companies experiencing cyberattacks in the past year. The Department of Health and Human Services is developing plans to enhance the protection of patient information in response to the growing threat.

Despite these future initiatives, parents facing six days of uncertainty amid the ongoing cyberattack find little comfort in prospective measures.

See Lurie Children's full statement below:

"Lurie Children’s continues to respond to a cybersecurity matter. Our top priority remains providing safe, quality care to our patients and the communities we serve.

We acknowledge the inconvenience and concern this system outage causes for our patient families, team members, and community providers. Thank you for your continued patience and support.

We recognize the frustration of not having clarity on when this will be resolved. Our investigation remains ongoing and we are working around the clock to resolve this matter.

Please understand this process takes time and know that we have highly experienced, capable, and empathetic teams of both internal and external experts responding to this matter. We also continue to work in collaboration with law enforcement.

All Lurie Children’s facilities continue to follow protocols for cybersecurity matters, which includes taking network systems offline, such as phone, email and electronic records. We are taking steps to mitigate the disruption and maintain continuity of care.

For additional assistance, please call our dedicated call center at 1.800.543.7362, M-F 8 a.m.-8p.m.; Sat. 8 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sun. 8 a.m.-12 p.m. During the hours the Call Center is closed, please call the main operator at 312.227.4000. Due to high volumes, if you receive a busy signal, please try calling us back."