Global IT Outage Hobbles EHR Systems, Leaving Docs Scrambling

A faulty software update that knocked down Microsoft systems all over the globe on Friday left U.S. physicians and health systems scrambling to find workarounds.

Hospital systems across the nation canceled surgeries and appointments while their systems — including electronic health records (EHRs) — were down. Microsoft Teams is also used by many health systems for communication and meetings.

Multiple clinicians told MedPage Today they’ve been taking notes with pen and paper until systems are back up. One said they used a Mac to log in to Epic as Apple is unaffected by the outage.

A spokesperson from Epic Systems, one of the two major EHR vendors, detailed how the outage impacted Nebula, which is Epic’s platform for cloud-based applications.

“Some features such as Epic Video Client for telehealth visits were not available during the outage. We have restored access to these features and are monitoring Nebula,” the spokesperson told MedPage Today in an email.

The spokesperson said the outage didn’t impact the company’s software or services directly, but it did cause “technical issues that prevent healthcare organizations from using their systems.” The EHR giant cited reports of laptop and desktop workstations being down as well as issues with data center software, both of which prevented people from accessing Epic.

In terms of workarounds, the spokesperson said the company is following “pre-established downtime protocols to continue delivering patient care” and is working with IT teams to restore access as soon as possible, noting that Epic’s internal customer support systems were unaffected.

The outage originated with an update to CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity platform used by hospital systems, airlines, banks, and other businesses worldwide. Hospitals were forced to cancel elective procedures, outpatient visits, and other services, including at Mass General Brigham in Boston; Baptist Health and Norton Healthcare in Louisville, Kentucky; and Memorial Hermann and Harris Health in Texas. Other hospitals, including Tufts Medical Center in Boston, are operating under “emergency management structure,” per reports.

CrowdStrike’s president and CEO George Kurtz confirmed on X that only Windows hosts are affected and that “the issue has been identified, isolated, and a fix has been deployed.”

As of press time, Oracle, the other major EHR vendor, which also runs Cerner, did not respond to MedPage Today‘s request for comment.

On X, one user brought levity to the situation: “Cerner, EPIC, and EMR down at lots of hospitals. So, uh, be extra careful today. Maybe don’t slice that bagel like that or pass old man Johnson’s tractor on a blind curve.”

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