IT ‘incident’ disrupts appointments, online services at local health system Monday
Computer security issues affecting a local health system led to some rescheduled patient appointments and patients being unable to access records online Monday.
Virigina Mason Franciscan Health sent a statement to The News Tribune after reports of patient portals and computer systems being down, affecting workers and patients at different sites. VMFH operates hospitals and clinics around the region, including St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma.
The statement said: “Virginia Mason Franciscan Health’s parent company CommonSpirit Health is managing an IT security incident which is impacting some of our facilities.”
It added, “As a precautionary step, we have taken certain IT systems offline, which may include electronic health record systems and other systems.”
VMFH said its facilities were following “existing protocols for system outages and taking steps to minimize the disruption.”
The incident led to some patient appointments being rescheduled, it noted. Patients also were unable to access their MyChart accounts, which is the online patient portal for medical records, messaging, test results, billing and more.
Meanwhile, reports of the outage from other parts of the country indicated it was more of a widespread event beyond the Puget Sound region.
Media in Tennessee, North Dakota and Nebraska reported systems taken down in similar fashion at CHI hospitals in those locations under the CommonSpirit Health umbrella.
This story was originally published October 3, 2022 at 4:58 PM.
