Capital Region ‘cybersecurity incident’ investigation in early stages

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Capital Region Medical Center said Wednesday that an investigation into a "cybersecurity incident" that led to the hospital disabling its network last week is in its early stages.

The hospital did not give details about the incident that led Capital Region to shut down its network, describing it in a statement Wednesday as "a disruption to our network systems."

"Upon discovering the disruption, we promptly disabled our network as a security measure, initiated an investigation into the incident, and a third-party cybersecurity firm was engaged to assist us," the hospital, an affiliate of MU Health Care, said in a statement. "While the investigation is in the early stages and is ongoing, it has so far determined that the disruption was due to a cybersecurity incident."

The disruption apparently affected Capital Region's pharmacies, too. The health network on Tuesday laid out a process for patients to get emergency, seven-day refills of non-narcotic medication if they bring their bottles to the pharmacy with them. Capital Region was initially offering the refills for one day but has now extended that period to next Tuesday.

Patients are still being seen, Capital Region said.

"There are downtime procedures in place for physicians, nurses and staff to provide care in these types of situations, and our staff is committed to doing everything they can to mitigate disruption and provide uninterrupted care to our patients," Capital Region said in a statement.