Capital Health in NJ Is Responding to a Cyberattack

New Jersey-based hospital group Capital Health on Thursday reported that some patient services have been disrupted by a network outage caused by a cyberattack that occurred earlier this week.

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Capital Health said it is still admitting patients and providing emergency care at its Capital Health Medical Center in Hopewell and Capital Health Regional Medical Center in Trenton, but the incident is disrupting other patient care services, including outpatient radiology, elective surgeries and neurophysiology and no-invasive cardiology testing. The hospitals have asked patients to reschedule.

“We are prioritizing safe patient care while working to restore the network and address the impact of this disruption,” said Capital Health. “Our scheduling department is contacting patients to advise them if their case is being rescheduled. Surgeries were prioritized based on urgency of the case and the critical nature of the patient’s condition.”

Capital Health said its medical group remains open for patient visits and its patient portals that contain “historic data” are currently available to patients.

Capital Health’s IT team took additional security measures to protect systems “and is working around the clock to recover and restore our systems and data,” the entity said. So far, Capital Health said it does not have confirmation on whether patient, employee or financial data has been compromised.

The group said it is working with third-party cybersecurity experts and law enforcement.

Capital Health is at least the second healthcare entity in New Jersey currently responding to a disruptive cyberattack affecting patient services.

Two New Jersey hospitals that are part of a joint venture between Ardent Health and Hackensack Meridian Health – Hackensack Meridian Mountainside Medical Center in Montclair and Hackensack Meridian Pascack Valley Medical Center in Westwood – also are dealing with an IT systems outage caused by a cyberattack.

That incident stemmed from a Thanksgiving Day ransomware attack on Tennessee-based Ardent Health that also affected dozens of hospitals and other care facilities in several other states (see: Thanksgiving Day Attack on Ardent Health Serving Leftovers).

Capital Health did not immediately respond to Information Security Media Group’s request for additional details about the incident.