IHS clinic in Oklahoma City hit by cyber attack, delaying refills and appointments

OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — A cyber attack against an Indian Health Service clinic in Oklahoma City last month is still causing issues with prescription refills and appointment scheduling.

The OKC IHS located on West Reno was the victim of a cyber attack in April. OKCIC issued a statement Monday and said the clinic discovered the issue after certain systems became inaccessible.

OKCIC said in the statement they do not have evidence of "unauthorized access to patient information".

FOX 25 started looking into the issue after a phone call from a patient. The patient stated they were having issues with refilling prescriptions at the IHS site.

On the website, it says the pharmacy automatic refill line and mail order services will be down for an "indeterminate amount of time". Patients are asked to have prescription information like chart numbers, drug names, drug strength, directions and provider information with them to refill a prescription.

Refills are taking 2 business days to process through OKCIC, the website states. Refill requests that require a provider's approval are taking 5 business days to process.

New prescriptions from doctors' visits will take up to 4 hours to process, OKCIC said.

A patient at the clinic also told FOX 25 that appointment scheduler programs were affected in the cyberattack, causing issues with appointments and bookings.

"OKCIC is taking the necessary and appropriate steps to address this incident and comply with applicable regulations, and will continue to do so as our investigation proceeds," OKCIC's statement reads.

Full statement from OKCIC:

Early last month, Oklahoma City Indian Clinic (OKCIC) discovered that certain systems were inaccessible and immediately deployed all available resources to investigate, including third-party forensic specialists. As part of our investigation, we discovered that the OKCIC was the victim of a cyber attack. While our investigation remains ongoing at this time, we currently do not have evidence of unauthorized access to patient information. OKCIC is taking the necessary and appropriate steps to address this incident and comply with applicable regulations, and will continue to do so as our investigation proceeds.