ORLANDO, Fla. — A ransomware attack has hit a blood donation nonprofit that serves hospitals across Florida and the southeastern United States.
OneBlood said it was hit by ransomware that is "impacting its software system." The group said it's working with cyber security experts and law enforcement to respond to the attack.
CNN, which first reported the issue, said the attack has "raised concerns about potential impacts on OneBlood’s service to some hospitals."
The ransomware outage is "impacting the nonprofit's ability to ship 'blood products' to hospitals in Florida", according to an advisory sent to health care providers by the Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center.
“They actually have all the blood they need, they just can't label it fast enough to get it to the hospitals,” Tampa General Hospital Chief Medical Officer Dr. Peggy Duggan told the I-Team. “As the only Level One Trauma Center in the Tampa Bay region, we need to be prepared for anything. In addition, we have a very high risk OB practice, where lots of women come in and have high risk deliveries."
“We have implemented manual processes and procedures to remain operational. Manual processes take significantly longer to perform and impacts inventory availability," OneBlood senior vice president of corporate communications and public relations Susan Forbes said in a statement.
Florida Hospital Association President & CEO Mary Mayhew said OneBlood is operating at a significantly reduced capacity, a 40% reduction. Mayhew said the association was first alerted on Monday.
“80 to 90% of all the blood for Florida's hospital comes from this one supplier. OneBlood,” Mayhew told the ABC Action News I-Team. “This is analogous to the attackers going after our country's electrical grid, going after our, air control towers. I think we immediately understand that they are going after our blood supply — a life saving, critical resource to our state, to our country.”
Mayhew gave an example to put the impact of the ransomware attack in perspective.
"One of our larger hospitals generally receives 80 units of platelets a day. They received nine units today. A mom delivering a baby that is hemorrhaging could use immediately nine units of platelets. That's the difference,” Mayhew said. "So hospitals are having to make very difficult decisions, but trying to triage and prioritize those truly urgent surgeries that are critically important and life-saving.”
"In an effort to further manage the blood supply we have asked the more than 250 hospitals we serve to activate their critical blood shortage protocols and to remain in that status for the time being," Forbes said.
OneBlood said the national blood community "is rallying to assist OneBlood and the hospitals and patients it serves," but also said there is an urgent need for blood types O positive, O negative, and platelet donations.
We reached out to area hospital systems about the impact on patients.
HCA provided this statement.
“We have rescheduled a limited number of elective surgeries at some of our facilities, but again we are utilizing the resources of the HCA Healthcare network to provide support.”
Tampa General Hospital provided this statement about the ransomware attack.
“As the region’s only Level I Trauma Center, Tampa General Hospital stands ready to care for patients with the most complex health care needs. Due to the software system outages reported at OneBlood, which provides lifesaving products to Tampa General and hundreds of hospitals across the southeast, we have taken a proactive approach to conserve supplies where circumstances allow. We are working closely with OneBlood to determine when their operations will resume. We are also working closely with our health care partners and state and federal leaders to ensure we have adequate supplies to mitigate the impact on our operations. At this time, we are continuing to accept patients at our facilities and are evaluating cases as needed with our clinical teams.”
BayCare Health System operates 16 hospital in the Tampa Bay area. We emailed them about the outage.
ABC Action News I-Team reporter Kylie McGivern emailed Baycare to answer these questions about the attack:
Are you having to reschedule any surgeries? Have you had to tell physicians/patients about any changes you're making? What do patients and the public need to know?
Response from the media relations department with Baycare:
"OneBlood, the not-for-profit blood center supplying blood and blood products for our hospitals, is experiencing a ransomware event that is impacting their software system. Although they remain operational, their ability to distribute blood and blood products has been significantly reduced. At this time, BayCare has seen minimal disruptions. We had early notification and have been taking all necessary precautions to protect patient safety, including rescheduling some surgeries and procedures. Any questions about the ransomware event should be directed to our supplier, OneBlood.
RE services: Scheduling of outpatient infusions of blood products is being closely monitored by our medical professionals to ensure availability of product.
RE what people need to know: As stated in OneBlood’s press release, there is a request for the community to donate: 'If you are eligible to donate, we urge you to please make an appointment to donate as soon as possible. All blood types are needed, but there is an urgent need for O Positive, O Negative and Platelet donations.'"
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