As Scripps Health continues to recover from a May 1 malware attack, nearby health systems including UC San Diego Health and Sharp HealthCare have seen an increase in patient volumes amid the San Diego-based system's IT downtime, KNSD reports.
Six updates:
1. Scripps was hit by the malware attack May 1; the health system experienced a network outage and then took a "significant portion" of its network offline as a preventive security measure, it said in a May 5 statement.
2. Scripps postponed some patient appointments last week due to the incident and diverted some critical care patients to other hospitals, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.
3. In a statement to KNSD, a UC San Diego Health spokesperson said that "while Scripps Health continues to assess and remedy the situation, ramifications are being experienced across the region," adding that UCSD "has seen an increase in patients coming to our facilities, especially to the emergency departments at UC San Diego Health Medical Center in Hillcrest and Jacobs Medical Center in La Jolla."
4. UCSD has increased staff and has coordinated patient overflow areas to accommodate the extra volume, according to the May 8 report. San Diego-based Sharp HealthCare told the network that its emergency department patient volume has also increased over the past few days.
5. Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente and Escondido, Calif.-based Palomar Health told KNSD their respective systems have not seen an increase in patient volume amid the cyberattack on Scripps.
6. Scripps' investigation of the malware attack is ongoing. The health system's website was still down as of 10:30 a.m. CDT May 10.