UNM Health cyberattack cancels appointments, diverts ambulances

All appointments across the health system’s dozens of clinics across the state canceled for the day, officials say

The University of New Mexico Hospital canceled all appointments Monday and diverted patients to other hospitals in the area after a cybersecurity threat targeted the hospital’s computer system, university officials said.

All appointments and outpatient surgeries at the more than 30 UNM Health System clinics across the state were canceled Monday, according to a news release.

In-person and virtual classes were canceled at the School of Medicine, College of Pharmacy, College of Nursing and College of Population Health. All students and nonessential employees of UNM Health Sciences were dismissed for the day on Monday, and all classes and research units on the Health Sciences campus will be canceled Tuesday, UNM officials said.

Upon discovering the hacking, information technology staff notified federal and state law enforcement, and leadership set up an emergency operations center to help guide hospital staff, according to the release.

The hospital limited its acceptance of new patients from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. while technicians worked to reboot the network, according to a news release. Around 2:30 p.m., the UNM Health System began resuming operations and bringing systems back online in phases, “as it was safe to do so,” the release said.

The hospital system will work with patients to reschedule missed appointments and procedures. Patients with a surgery or appointment planned for Tuesday should expect an update from UNMH late Monday evening or early Tuesday morning, officials said.

Essential employees continued to work in the hospital and its clinics throughout the day, and are expected to return tomorrow, the release added.

“We recognize this event may have impacted patients, employees and students, and we appreciate their patience as our teams respond,” reads a UNMH statement. “We understand there are many questions. Because this remains an active law enforcement investigation, we are limited in what we can at this time.”

The UNM Hospital is one of the largest in the state and the only Level 1 trauma center, capable of caring for the most seriously injured patients.

No other parts of campus appear to be affected, a university spokesperson said.

In a post on X Monday afternoon, U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich said he was “closely monitoring” the situation at UNMH and “doing everything (he) can to ensure all available federal resources are being deployed.”

Hackers frequently target hospitals and clinics by holding their sensitive patient and employee data for ransom — demanding money in exchange for the return of scores of personal information.

In February, the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson was the target of a similar ransomware attack, which forced Mississippi’s only Level 1 trauma center to close its clinics across the state and cancel patient procedures for more than a week.

UMMC resumed normal operations in nine days , but a report from software firm Comparitech found the average downtime for a healthcare organization after a cyberattack is 17 days.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Natalie Robbins covers education for the Journal. You can reach her at [email protected] .