The ransomware attack targeting St. Louis-based Ascension in May affected operations and the health system's revenue, according to the health system's fiscal year 2024 documents.
Ascension revealed its fourth quarter fiscal year results Sept. 17, reporting $1.8 billion operating margin loss including the impact of the cyberattack. The health system reported revenue loss from the ransomware attack and incurred extra costs to remediate the issue in addition to other business-related expenses.
The health system temporarily shut down its EHR during the incident and reverted to established downtime protocols. Ascension has since restored its EHR and clinical workflows, operating as normal since mid-June.
"Ascension has made significant progress towards and continues to remediate and restore all additional systems. Our investigation and analysis into this incident is ongoing and will likely conclude during fiscal year 2025," stated the health system's leadership in a report about 2024 fiscal year results.
The cyberattack also affected accounts receivable. Ascension's days cash on hand dropped from 211 days as of June 30, 2023 to 194 days by June 30, 2024. Net days in accounts receivable increased from 46.7 days to 78.4 days.
"The largest driver of the change in cash and investment position is the temporary increase in accounts receivable driven by the impacts of the cybersecurity incidents, which is expected to be reduced in FY25 as accounts receivable are collected," notes the report.
Ascension secured advanced payments from commercial payers and CMS to mitigate the impact of the ransomware attack on its revenue cycle. The health system also experienced revenue cycle issues in the third quarter related to the ransomware attack against Change Healthcare in February. Ascension diversified its claim clearinghouse after the Change Healthcare incident to protect itself against similar issues in the future.