Cleveland Patients Lose Online Access to Records
University Hospitals' digital services remain limited more than two weeks after a cybersecurity incident, with no restoration date announced.
Updated on Nov. 6, 2026 in Cybersecurity
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University Hospitals, a Cleveland health system, detected unusual activity on its servers on October 22 and disconnected its systems from the internet as a precaution. Online services including MyChart, prescription information, test results and online bill pay remain limited, and the incident is research-stage in the sense that the investigation is ongoing and no restoration date has been announced.
Why it matters
The disruption shows how a hospital network can keep physical care running while its digital patient-facing layer goes dark, shifting load onto phone lines and call centers. For a large regional system in Cleveland, that trade-off is now visible to patients who cannot reach their records or message physicians online.
The only measured figures available are a single patient-reported 20-minute phone wait and a disruption now more than two weeks old, with no published call-volume baseline or restoration timeline. The cause, scope of any data exposure, and recovery schedule have not been disclosed.
The players
University Hospitals
A Cleveland-based health system whose hospitals, emergency departments and physician offices run on networked systems that were disconnected from the internet during this incident.
The details
University Hospitals disconnected its systems from the internet while it investigates the incident, a precaution that cuts off remote access to services such as MyChart, the patient portal that normally handles visit notes, prescription renewals and physician messages. Hospitals, emergency departments and physician offices remain open and fully operational, so care continues in person while the digital layer is offline. Patients who need to schedule or change appointments must call designated phone numbers, which is why call centers are experiencing unusually high volumes.
Timeline
October 22, 2026: University Hospitals detected unusual activity on its servers.
November 5, 2026: UH issued an updated statement saying its hospitals remain operational.
November 6, 2026: Digital services remained disrupted two weeks after detection.
The Tech Race
Hospital systems that take themselves offline to contain an intrusion are following a containment pattern now common across U.S. health networks. The trade-off between isolating systems and keeping patient portals available is the open question this case puts in front of Cleveland patients.
Patients cannot access visit notes, renew prescriptions online or message physicians through MyChart, and must phone designated numbers to schedule or change appointments. Patients can pay bills by mail via USPS or by calling 1-800-859-5906, option 1, and should expect slower phone access while call volumes stay high.
The takeaway
Watch for an official restoration date for MyChart and online bill pay, which the hospital has not yet announced. Patients should never share passwords or full Social Security numbers, since University Hospitals says it will never call, text or email asking for them.
Further reading
For context on how health systems defend networks like these, see Cybersecurity coverage on Cleveland.
Source note: This article includes information reported by News 5 Cleveland WEWS.
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