DES MOINES, Iowa — MercyOne patients may have a different experience as they visit their healthcare providers this week due to a ransomware attack on Monday, Oct. 3.
MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center shut down some of their information technology systems, including electronic health record systems, as parent company CommonSpirit Health experienced a company-wide IT issue.
"Our facilities are following existing protocols for system outages and taking steps to minimize the disruption," said Adam Amdor, spokesperson for MercyOne, in a statement.
It is unclear how the IT issues continue to impact patient care, although the medical center is making some key changes.
"MercyOne has switched to downtime (paper) procedures in some units due to the IT outage," Amdor said. "All MercyOne colleagues will receive their paycheck on schedule."
Additionally, UnityPoint Medical Center confirmed MercyOne diverted their ambulances to their hospital for "a little while" on Monday due to this issue.
MercyOne Central Iowa is currently in the process of integrating into Trinity Health. However, the medical center is still using CommonSpirit Health technology as it makes the transition.
A Thursday, Oct. 13 press release said in part:
"Due to the IT issue, MercyOne Central Iowa patients are temporarily unable to schedule appointments online in Central Iowa. We apologize for this inconvenience and encourage patients to call their provider's office to schedule appointments. If a patient has issues scheduling, they can call the MercyOne Central Iowa Medical Group Administrative Office at 515-358-6970."
Local 5 reached out to MercyOne about when they expect to be back online, and if patient information has been compromised. MercyOne did not respond to a request for comment.