Microsoft outage forces Mass General Brigham to cancel non-urgent surgeries, hospital visits
BOSTON - The Microsoft Crowdstrike outage that hit health care systems, as well as airlines, banks and other business around the world Friday, is impacting hospitals and clinics in Massachusetts.
Mass General Brigham cancellations
Mass General Brigham, one of the largest health care systems in the Boston area, said the "major worldwide software outage has affected many of our systems."
"Due to the severity of this issue, all previously scheduled non-urgent surgeries, procedures, and medical visits are cancelled today," spokesperson Noah Brown said in a statement.
"Mass General Brigham remains open to provide care to patients with urgent health concerns in our clinics and emergency departments, and we continue to care for all patients currently receiving care in our hospitals."
While emergency rooms are open, a nurse at Brigham and Women's Hospital told WBZ-TV they're providing care at a much slower pace without access to computer records. Some staff came in on their day off to help.
"I actually wasn't scheduled to work today. My fiancé wakes up for work at 5:45 every day and I saw it on my phone, digital crisis, so I do what so many of my other colleagues would do and, you know, you go in to do what you can to help," said Meghan Mahoney, a Neurosciences Intensive Care Unit nurse at the Brigham.
Mass General Brigham operates Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's in Boston, two of the top-ranked hospitals in the nation, along with several clinics, urgent cares and labs.
"We have dedicated every available resource to resolve this issue as quickly as possible, and we apologize for the inconvenience this has caused our patients. It is our highest priority to ensure that our patients receive the safest care possible," Brown said.
"I can't even quantify it into words. We do everything on our computers now, right? We have our electronic health systems which has people's medical history, their allergies. Everything that they have done to establish care with us is on our electronic health system," Mahoney told WBZ.
Tufts Medical Center
A spokesperson for Tufts Medical Center in Boston told WBZ-TV they are "currently operating under an emergency management structure as we await resolution of this disruption. During this time, we remain open and able to provide safe patient care."
Beth Israel Lahey Health
Beth Israel Lahey Health, which operates 13 hospitals in Massachusetts and one in New Hampshire, said all of their locations are open Friday for patient care.
However, a nurse at one of the hospitals told WBZ staff were called in on their off day to help because the outage was slowing down services. In one instance, nurses were sharing two working computers.
"Please arrive as scheduled for any appointments unless you hear from a member of your care team. Our teams are working to resolve the impacts of a global technology outage and there may be delays," Beth Israel Lahey said on social media.
Nantucket Cottage Hospital
Nantucket Cottage Hospital said the outage "affected many of our systems."
"Due to the severity of this issue, all previously scheduled non-urgent surgeries, procedures, and medical visits are cancelled today," the hospital said in a statement Friday.
Boston EMS
Boston Police and Boston EMS said they didn't have any issues during the outages and both have been able to answer 911 calls for medical emergencies
