Springfield, Ill.-based Hospital Sisters Health System warned patients of potentially fraudulent attempts to collect on fake hospital bills after a cybersecurity incident in late August, according to the health system's website.
The health system halted collecting payments for outstanding bills while it recovers from the incident, but some patients have received emails, texts and phone calls from another party claiming to be HSHS representatives and seeking payments for services. The health system asked patients not to respond to "suspicious" messages, but instead to save them so investigators can find the source of the messages.
There are some HSHS partners in Wisconsin and Illinois sending bills to patients, so the health system recommended patients review bills before making payments. The health system doesn't charge late fees.
On-site payments have been affected by the incident as well. The health system took its computer system offline and has only been able to accept cash and check payments from patients while the system recovers.
As of Sept. 4, the patient billing systems remained suspended. Service was restored to phone lines. HSHS is working with a third party to bring computer systems fully back online, prioritizing patient safety.
"A health system of our size operates hundreds of system applications across thousands of servers, and as such, our restoration and investigative work will take some time to complete. That is why we are approaching the process with such clarity of purpose: patient safety must come first," stated a note on the HSHS website.