Heywood Hospital and Athol Hospital said a network outage this week was caused by a cybersecurity incident. The hospitals said they took affected systems offline and engaged a third-party cybersecurity firm. The facilities—Heywood Hospital in Gardner, Massachusetts, and Athol Hospital in Athol, Massachusetts—remain open and caring for patients; earlier in the week they enacted a Code Black ambulance diversion after phones and internet were disrupted. Officials have not specified the attack type or whether any data was accessed.
Hospital posts and local coverage say communications remain spotty as recovery continues. Patients are being directed to the Athenahealth portal or the answering service to reach providers. Under Massachusetts Department of Public Health policy, full ambulance diversion is permitted only during Code Black, defined as closing the emergency department to all patients because of an internal emergency. Officials have not announced any law enforcement involvement or notification details.
Heywood Healthcare is an independent, community-owned system that includes Heywood Hospital, a 134-bed acute care hospital in Gardner; Athol Hospital, a 25-bed critical access hospital in Athol; and Heywood Medical Group, which serves north-central Massachusetts and the North Quabbin region.
