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Tallahassee Memorial resumes 'limited' elective procedures as IT security threat continues

Patrick Sternad
/
WFSU Public Media

An IT threat at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare is ongoing. In an update sent Tuesday, the system said some elective procedures have resumed.

Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare resumed some elective procedures Tuesday, days after a security problem forced the hospital to take its information technology network offline.

IT systems remained offline as a security precaution Tuesday after the health system was hit by an apparent ransomware attack late Thursday. It had the hallmarks of such an attack, but the hospital has characterized it as an “IT security issue” that it reported to law enforcement.

In a Tuesday evening update, Tallahassee Memorial said it is performing “limited” nonemergency surgeries and procedures. Patients should expect to hear from the hospital if they’re scheduled for a surgery. Their doctors will contact them if their surgery or procedure is being rescheduled.

The hospital is continuing to divert all but the most severe emergency patients but is accepting heart attack patients and patients in active labor.

The hospital has been working with experts and law enforcement to address the threat and have not released a time frame for when the issue will be resolved.

In a statement, hospital staff said it is limited in the amount and kind of information it can release while the issue is ongoing.

With its network offline, the hospital was forced to use paper documentation.

The hospital system, headquartered in Tallahassee, provides health care across 21 counties in northern Florida, southern Georgia and southern Alabama, according to its website.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.