The Australian Government has ensured that healthcare providers in the country can prescribe and dispense electronic prescriptions securely as usual during the early stages of the investigation into the ransomware attack large into MediSecure.
Last week, it was reported that the digital prescribing platform had suffered a “large-scale” cyber attack, affecting personal information and health of individuals.
Over the weekend, MediSecure confirmed that data was breached in its system related to prescriptions dispensed “up until November 2023” when it discontinued its nationwide prescription delivery service. The violation alsosets out the personal information of health care providers.
In a separate statement, the Australian government assured that electronic prescriptions being dispensed are not currently affected. “The national prescription delivery service, eRx, is not affected by this cyber incident,” it said.
“Consumers can continue to safely access medicines and healthcare providers can still prescribe and dispense as normal,” the government advised.
THE LARGER CONTEXT
Australia is studying a whole-of-government response to the ransomware incident. So far, it has been confirmed that its impact is limited to MediSecure systems. “There is no evidence to suggest there is an increased cyber threat to the healthcare sector,” it said.
“In addition, the digital systems supporting the Pharmacy Benefits Program, Medicare, Real-Time Prescription Monitoring and My Health Record were not impacted by this cybersecurity incident.”
MediSecure said in its initial statement last week that still-unidentified actors may have infiltrated MediSecure through one of its third-party vendors.
Late last year, the government turned to a new prescription drug delivery service provider, eRx Script Exchange, after awarding a four-year exclusivity contract to its operator. Fred IT.
The adoption of electronic prescriptions has been promoted over the years as an alternative to paper-based prescribing. Data from the Australian Digital Health Authority shows more than 189 million electronic prescriptions have been issued by more than 80,000 GPs and nurses since May 2020.
