Patient Information

Universal Health Systems was hit with a ransomware attach this week. Their servers began to fail over the weekend and Hospitals across the country completely lost access to their EHR systems. As a result of this attack many facilities were forced to go to pen and paper for medical record keeping. In many locations the nursing staff did not have access to medication lists and had no way ok knowing which medications patients needed, how much to dose, or even who needed medications.

Under the new law known as the 21st Century Cures Act, information blocking is now ILLEGAL. That means if you get a request from another provider for patient information, you are required to provide that information. The Office of Inspector General at OIG can investigate all claims of information blocking by providers and can levy fines and / or enforce Corrective Action Plans (CAP).