Samaritan Announces All Computer Systems and Applications Have Been Fully Restored; Confirms There Was No Unauthorized Access to or Acquisition of Patient Data

Published on: October 6, 2020

Watertown, N.Y. – Samaritan Health announced today it has successfully completed the restoration of all computer systems and applications, and can confirm no patient or employee data was accessed or acquired.

Thomas H. Carman, president & chief executive officer, said, “Our systems are now relaying information as they had been prior to the outage, and all information is again being sent to the Health Information Exchange.”

Carman also reported a third-party investigation determined there was no unauthorized access to or acquisition of patient data.

“We take the privacy of our patients and staff very seriously, so this is particularly meaningful and positive news,” he added.

The systems at the following clinic locations are all now back in operation:

• All primary care locations
• Women’s Wellness and Breast Care
• Wound Care Center
• Dermatology
• Pain Management Center
• Urology
• Infectious Disease
• Rheumatology

Clinic online patient portals, smartphone applications and Samaritan’s email system are also fully operational.

“We want to once again thank our IT team and the third-party computer forensic professionals who worked so hard to restore systems and applications, along with our entire staff for all of their efforts to help provide high-quality patient care during this challenging time. Operating under downtime procedures was stressful, but as with other challenges, our team rose to the occasion,” Carman emphasized.

Carman cautioned that even though computer systems and applications are restored, there could be some residual delays.

“Although our patient care and record systems are fully operational, we are still in a recovery period as we transition from paper downtime procedures and continue entering information into our systems. We have a methodical and effective process in place, but it is time intensive.”

“We’ve said it before, but it bears repeating how much we appreciate the entire community’s patience and support during this outage and recovery,” Carman concluded.

Any patients with ongoing issues or concerns related to the outage are asked to contact Samaritan’s patient relations department at 315-785-4679.