Lovelace patients struggle to refill prescriptions, contact staff following cyberattack on health system

Dec. 1—Seventy-eight-year-old Toby Atkinson is diabetic. If he doesn't find a way for Lovelace to get his prescription refilled in the next few days, he'll be out of critical medication that helps keep his blood sugar down.

He said he hasn't been able to contact Lovelace Health System for nearly a week, and his pharmacy has been unable to get a response to faxes.

It's an issue similar to what others say they're dealing with ever since Lovelace's parent company, Ardent Health Services, detected a cybersecurity attack on Thanksgiving. It caused Lovelace to temporarily close medical centers in New Mexico, divert emergency room patients to other hospitals and reschedule some non-emergent surgeries.

Lovelace spokesperson Whitney Marquez said on Friday all Lovelace facilities have resumed operations. On Thursday, all hospitals were accepting ER patients again. She said some non-emergent procedures are still paused while the health system works to restore its systems.

Several Lovelace patients said they haven't been able to fill prescriptions or reach hospital officials after the cyberattack.

Marquez said in a statement that Lovelace staff are helping patients in processing refill requests, and patients can contact their pharmacy directly for refills in some cases.

Atkinson and another Albuquerque resident, Caleb Gluck, said they were having ongoing struggles to fill their prescriptions. Gluck said he hasn't been able to for at least three weeks now, well before the Tennessee-based Ardent health system announced the cybersecurity issues.

He's been out of his blood pressure medication for over a week as a result, he said.

Gluck went to a Lovelace clinic on Friday in an attempt to fill his prescription.

"You cannot call in and get a prescription refilled," he said. "They are telling you to come to their physical location."

Atkinson said he tried repeatedly to call Lovelace. His pharmacist recommended he try to go to a clinic in person.

"It won't be the first time I've gone there, roamed the corridors looking for help of some kind," he said.

Atkinson said Lovelace is sometimes slow to renew prescriptions, but he can usually get to the health system through his pharmacy or the MyChart app, which holds electronic health records.

MyChart isn't working and there's no timeline on its restoration, according to a MyChart patient support line the Journal called on Friday. Multiple people the Journal talked to said MyChart hasn't been working for the last week or so.

Atkinson said he also tried to call Lovelace Medical Group, but his call went straight to voicemail. When the Journal called on Friday afternoon, the recorded voicemail said a network issue is preventing staff from taking the call.

The voicemail also said people who need medication refills should visit a Lovelace medical clinical location in person with a list of prescriptions.

Atkinson said he's afraid his medication won't be filled in time. He said he has a lot of prescriptions because of his diabetes, "and renewals are quite critical to me."

"It's not like I'm going to die next week, but the quality of my life may suffer," he said.

After getting off the phone with the Journal, Atkinson said he went to a Lovelace facility in person. Staff told him a doctor would issue a paper prescription within 72 hours, he said, which he would have to hand-deliver to his pharmacy.

In three days, Atkinson will be out of medication. He said he may halve his doses to make it to his refill.

Gluck said he tried — and failed — to get his prescription renewed by phone weeks ago, before his medication was completely out.

"It's a blood pressure medication, which can be pretty important for people," he said.

Gluck also has a procedure that needs to be rescheduled, and he said he hasn't been notified of a new date yet. He said he's trying to be proactive by calling to get it rescheduled, but nobody is answering the phone.

"They're telling you that they'll call you to reschedule you," he said. "If you think they're going to call all these thousands of people, yeah, I've got a bridge to sell you."

Similarly, Steve Drilling hasn't heard what new date his screening appointment will be. He said he's been trying to call but nobody is answering.

Marquez said staff are working diligently with patients to reschedule appointments or procedures. She said if patients have urgent health care needs, they can visit their provider's office or Lovelace's urgent care center.

"We understand the frustration this has caused and sincerely regret any inconvenience to our patients," she said.

Drilling said it would be nice to get updates from Lovelace a couple times a week on what's going on, and he hasn't gotten any apologies from administration about the issues.

"I don't have urgent issues, but it's just so frustrating dealing with this company," he said.

He voiced worries that he still can't get into MyChart.

"My concern is, are past records lost forever, or can they be recovered?" he said. "Lovelace is not telling us anything."

Drilling said he's surprised media coverage has been focused on the diversion of ER patients or the rescheduled elective surgeries when it's also affecting other Lovelace patients.

Jim Wagner had a rotator cuff tear surgery scheduled that was pushed back a week. Like Drilling, he said it's not life-or-death and he isn't in any pain, so it's not a big deal. It's just a hassle, he said.

"You get prepared mentally for this," he said. "They're going to slice you open and put stitches in your shoulder and screws in your shoulder, and then to have the rug pulled out from under you like it was, it's just maddening."

Wagner said his surgery was recently rescheduled but he doesn't know if it will actually happen. Like others, he said he doesn't have very much information about what's going on.

"What do the ransomware people want, and are they going to get what they're asking for?" Wagner asked.

As of Friday afternoon, Lovelace spokesperson Marquez said the health system can't confirm the extent of any patient health or financial data that's been compromised. She didn't respond to a request for more information on how the health system will respond to the ransomware attack.

Wagner said it's not Lovelace's fault that this is happening.

"Nobody wants to be a victim of a cyberattack," he said.