HSHS, Prevea report patients receiving phony demands for payment

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) - HSHS hospitals and Prevea Health say some patients are receiving suspicious emails, texts, or phone calls as the health systems recovery from a cybersecurity incident. The health systems say the messages claim to be from HSHS representatives asking for payment.

Prevea’s website says billing services are still suspended since the technology outage hit the health systems last week. They are not emailing or calling patients for payments or notifying patients if a new billing is available.

Some partners in Wisconsin and Illinois are not affected by the technology outage and are able to send bills, but you should not respond if you receive any communications about bills claiming to be from an HSHS hospital in the region or Prevea Health.

If you receive one of these messages, save it and email information to questions@hshs.org so it can be investigated. HSHS and Prevea can determine if the bill is from a legitimate partner or if it may be criminal.

Currently, Prevea is accepting cash and checks at the check-in desk if payment is required for service.

Hospital Sisters Health Systems and Prevea Health are still investigating the scope of the cybersecurity incident and whether patients’ personal information was compromised. The organizations say patients will be notified if their sensitive or personal information is affected.

HSHS president/CEO Damond Boatwright says they’re working with third-party experts and law enforcement.

So far, almost all hospital and clinic phone lines are back in service, but the technology outage still affects communications networks at several hospitals. MyChart and MyPrevea for seeing lab and test results are still down.

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