'Unusual activity' triggers 5-day network outage for Missouri hospital
Capital Region Medical Center, an affiliate of University of Missouri Health Care, has spent nearly a week battling a system-wide network outage affecting its phone and computer systems.
Although Healthcare IT News‘ attempts to reach the Jefferson City-based facility were not successful, a spokesperson told a local ABC affiliate that the decision to take the network down was triggered by “unusual activity” in the phone system on early December 17.
“Capital Region Medical Center is currently experiencing a service-availability blackout. The network has been disabled system-wide,” said the spokesperson.
WHY IT MATTERS
On December 17, the hospital posted about the outage on its Facebook page, describing it as a “system-wide network outage, which is impacting the phone and computer systems.” “
We are working to remedy the situation as soon as possible. We apologize for this inconvenience. We are working diligently to get our systems functioning properly,” the post continued.
The social media account then went silent for more than three days.
Calling the system repeatedly returns a busy signal, and the website currently listed on the page displays an error. Patients in the comments of the public post expressed confusion and anger.
“All I want is a prescription refilled! Been trying since 5 AM this morning. Still unable to get through. Just wow … Appreciate the staff, but their hands are tied with IT issues,” said one.
“What are we [supposed] to do when we have a surgery scheduled for tomorrow and unsure what time we are [supposed] to arrive?” asked another.
On December 21, the facility announced that it would offer a seven-day supply of medications for patients in need of a refill.
“Patients must bring their prescription bottle with them. At this time, 7-day refills are available TODAY ONLY,” posted the facility.
The hospital’s Facebook account also replied to a few patient comments, saying that doctors were still seeing patients in the office as of Tuesday.
According to reporting from local outlet the News Tribune, the hospital’s board planned to discuss the outage on Tuesday afternoon. Cole County Emergency Medical Services also reportedly diverted patients to another hospital for a brief period over the weekend.
“I was there yesterday! Had my pre-op [appointment]! Everyone treated me great and everything went fine!” posted one patient on December 19.
THE LARGER TREND
Although CRMC has not disclosed the nature of the unusual activity, similar high-profile outages have stemmed from ransomware attacks.
One of the past year’s most notable incidents took place at Scripps Health, which experienced weeks of post-ransomware downtime.
Then, the health system faced even more trouble when patients filed a handful of class-action suits.
ON THE RECORD
“CRMC is continuing operations using downtime procedures. We continually train and plan for various scenarios to ensure care continuity,” the spokesperson told ABC 17.
Kat Jercich is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Twitter: @kjercich
Email: [email protected]
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.
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