Clinics within the University of Mississippi Medical Center network will remain closed and elective procedures will be canceled Monday and Tuesday as authorities work to recover the health system’s IT infrastructure following last week’s cyberattack. 

People can still receive emergency department services in UMMC hospitals and at community hospitals in Jackson, Grenada, Madison County and Holmes County, according to a statement from the hospital. 

“I know this intrusion into our system has negatively impacted some of our patients, but please know that we are using every resource at our disposal to resolve this issue in a safe and effective manner,” Dr. LouAnn Woodward, vice chancellor for the medical center, said in a statement Sunday. 

Federal agencies, including the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, have been assisting Mississippi’s largest public hospital since Thursday when a cyberattack compromised the health care system’s IT network, forcing the shutdown of computer systems that hold patients’ electronic health records. Those records are used to book appointments and to manage patients’ medical histories, test results and billing information. 

This shutdown also disrupted county public health departments, which also rely on the same computer systems. 

Roughly 10,000 people work for UMMC, making the health care provider one of the state’s largest employers. Its facilities include seven hospitals and 35 clinics statewide, and UMMC’s annual budget amounts to about $2 billion. 

The state’s only Level 1 trauma center is operated by UMMC, and it continues to serve patients through manual procedures, or using paper records to track patient care, Woodward said. Staff also have used this paper-based system to document inpatient operations and patient orders, Woodward said in a social media message posted late Friday. Woodward confirmed that the cyberattack occurred through ransomware but said, “we have stopped the bleeding.” 

The attack’s full extent remains unknown, Woodward said.