Prevea announces progress in restoring phone, Internet systems after cyber attack

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) - Prevea Health announced Monday afternoon it’s making progress restoring its phone and Internet systems following a cyber attack at the end of August.

Prevea says the following are now available:

• The HSHS Wisconsin Hospital websites
• Phone systems
• MyChart and MyPrevea
• Guest wi-fi

The health systems announced last week they restored functionality of their EPIC platform, which stores health records electronically. MyChart and MyPrevea can be used for accessing lab results and making appointments.

The hospitals and clinics have been working through a technology outage since late last month. They eventually acknowledged it was the result of a cyber attack.

The cyber attack last month affected phones, internet and communications systems, and clinical and administrative applications at all 15 HSHS hospitals in Wisconsin and Illinois and Prevea Health facilities.

Patient portals went down, closing off access to test results and patient history, and front desks started keeping paper records of patient visits. People couldn’t call loved ones in hospitals who didn’t have a personal cell phone.

Phone systems were gradually restored, and patients were given a growing list of phone numbers to call about appointments and other medical needs.

Facilities were only accepting cash or checks for payment. People were warned about scam emails and texts which appeared to be from the health systems requesting payment. People are asked to save those messages and email questions@hshs.org to investigate whether it was a legitimate bill from a partner or a scam.

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