News: EHR systems down amidst global IT outage last Friday

On Friday, July 19, Microsoft systems all over the globe went down amidst a faulty software update, leaving health systems, hospitals, and providers trying to find workarounds, MedPage Today reported.

Across the nation, hospitals canceled surgeries and appointments while many of their systems, such as their EHRs and Microsoft Teams, went offline. The outage originated with an update to CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity platform used by hospital systems, airlines, banks, and other businesses worldwide. CrowdStrike’s webpage includes more information about the issue and a preliminary post incident review.

Multiple clinicians said they had been taking notes with pen and paper until systems were back up, MedPage Today reported.

A spokesperson from Epic Systems, one of the 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.

While the outage didn't impact the company's software or services directly, the spokesperson said it did cause "technical issues that prevent healthcare organizations from using their systems," including laptop and desktop workstations being down and issues with data center software, which prevented people from accessing the software.

Editor’s note: To read MedPage Today’s coverage of this story, click here. To read more from CrowdStrike about the outage, click here.