Michigan's McLaren Health Care investigating disruption to phone, computer systems
(CBS DETROIT) - McLaren Health Care's Michigan hospitals were sent reeling on Tuesday after a disruption struck information technology systems and phones, the health system said.
Patients of the system's thirteen hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, physician offices and other service centers – including the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute – were advised to keep their appointments as they worked through the issue unless contacted by an employee.
Officials said some non-emergent or elective procedures may be rescheduled "out of an abundance of caution."
"We understand this situation may be frustrating to our patients - and to our team members - and we deeply and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause," McLaren said in a statement. "We kindly ask for your patience while our caregivers and support teams work as diligently as ever to provide our communities the care they need and deserve."
"Our team will work diligently with any patient who has an appointment rescheduled."
McLaren is advising all patients to bring the following information to their appointments as they continue to investigate the disruption:
- A list of current medications or empty prescription bottles
- Printed physician orders for imaging studies or treatments
- Printed results of recent lab tests (available in the patient portal: mclaren.org/medicalrecords)
- A list of allergies
At least one website for McLaren's insurance plans remained down on Tuesday evening with an error message and apology greeting visitors to the McLaren Health Plan site. The McLaren Health Advantage webpage is accessible, but a yellow banner appeared at the top of the page informing users about the issue.
"We are working to determine the extent of the disruption and do not have a timeframe to restore functionality," read the notice.
As of 9:20 p.m. on Tuesday, the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute website remained inaccessible.
This is the second major tech disruption McLaren has faced in the last year. In 2023, McLaren Health Care said an investigation into suspicious activity discovered on its network revealed a ransomware attack.
In a statement at the time, the health system said the some of its data may have been leaked to the dark web and will notify those who were impacted.
