BOSTON — Mass General Brigham canceled non-urgent surgeries, procedures, and medical visits scheduled for Friday due to a major software outage impacting companies and airlines globally.
The outage impacting Microsoft services grounded flights and knocked banks offline and media outlets off the air. Microsoft 365 said the company was “working on rerouting the impacted traffic to alternate systems to alleviate impact in a more expedient fashion.”
“A major worldwide software outage has affected many of our systems at Mass General Brigham, as well as many major businesses across the country. Due to the severity of this issue, all previously scheduled non-urgent surgeries, procedures, and medical visits are canceled today,” Mass General Brigham said in a statement.
On Friday night, hospital officials say they’ve mobilized incident command and other leadership teams across the organization to manage the CrowdStrike incident.
“We are doing everything possible to restore the electronic systems that support our patient care delivery across our system,” a hospital spokesperson said. “Our teams will continue to work throughout the night to implement solutions and, at this time, we expect to be operational tomorrow. We apologize for the inconvenience that this has caused to the many patients who had scheduled visits with us today.”
Mass General Brigham remained open to provide care to patients with urgent health concerns in the group’s clinics and emergency departments.
“We continue to care for all patients currently receiving care in our hospitals,” the healthcare provider added. “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.”
Mass General Brigham facilities and services include Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital, Cooley Dickinson Hospital, Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, Mass Eye and Ear, Mass General Brigham Community Physicians, Mass General Brigham Health Plan, Mass General Brigham Home Care, MGH Institute of Health Professions, McLean Hospital, Nantucket Cottage Hospital, Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Salem Hospital, Spaulding Rehabilitation, and Wentworth-Douglass Hospital.
Adriana Zighelboin said she traveled from Florida to come to Mass General Hospital in Boston.
“I was going to have a pancreatic transplant today,” said Zigheboil.
She said she’s had a feeding tube hanging out of her nose for three months and after waiting inside the hospital Friday she was told her surgery was being postponed.
“They actually really, really tried until the end to do the procedure because they know I have been waiting and I’m from out of town but at the end of the day they wouldn’t risk my safety to do the transplant,” said Zigheboin.
Mass General said the outage has forced them to cancel non-urgent surgeries, procedures, and medical visits.
Zieghboin said her doctor is planning on coming in on Saturday, his day off, to do her transplant, and she couldn’t be more excited.
Tufts Medical Center and South Shore Health were also experiencing issues linked to the global tech outage.
In a statement, Tufts said, “We are aware of this global IT disruption and have been in close contact with the vendor. We are currently operating under an emergency management structure as we await a resolution of this disruption. During this time, we remain open and able to provide safe patient care.”
South Shore Health added, “Early this morning, South Shore Health was made aware of technology issues impacting multiple information technology systems across South Shore Health. This appears to be a global problem impacting multiple businesses in addition to many healthcare organizations. We are currently working to assess, test, and remedy the affected systems. As always, patient care and safety remains our top priority and we are taking all necessary steps to ensure that we continue to deliver high-quality, safe care for our patients as we address these technology issues.”
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s website was also down as of 7:30 a.m.
The Registry of Motor Vehicles was also affected and canceled appointments until one in the afternoon Friday.
“We tried to do permits today but it’s not successful,” said Darliny Monteiro, Dorchester, “they say the system is down so we have to reschedule, this is our third time we tried to do it.”
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