CHI Memorial patients are now able to use the patient portal and providers can access their patients' electronic medical records as computer systems continue to come back online following a ransomware attack that began in early October.
CHI Memorial spokeswoman Karen Long said via email Friday that patients can again review their medical histories through the patient portal. As was policy prior to the attack, patients should contact their provider's office directly if they need to schedule an appointment.
CommonSpirit Health, CHI Memorial's parent company, took numerous computer systems offline upon discovering the health system was the victim of a ransomware attack more than a month ago. The attack left staff across CHI Memorial facilities in the Chattanooga region scrambling to care for patients without key electronic tools, including computerized health records, for weeks.
On Nov. 9, CommonSpirit posted an update on its website stating that "providers in the majority of markets now have access to the (electronic health records) across the CommonSpirit Health system, including at hospitals and clinics."
In her Friday email, Long thanked CHI Memorial's patients, clinicians, team members and the community for their patience throughout the recovery process.
"It will take some time before we can restore full functionality, and we continue work to bring our systems up as quickly and safely as we can," Long said. "Throughout this process, we have taken steps to protect our systems and maintain continuity of care. We are only taking steps to restore systems when it is safe and secure to do so."
Contact Elizabeth Fite at efite@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6673. Follow her on Twitter @ecfite.