One healthcare system in Brooklyn goes offline after unexplained IT problem

The computer network systems of Brooklyn’s main hospital network have been offline since November 19, preventing medical staff from accessing patient medical records and uploading test results and test results to an electronic patient portal. say doctors and others with knowledge of the situation.

The outage affects One Brooklyn Health System, a consortium comprised of Interfaith Medical Center, Brookdale Medical Center and Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center.

It’s unclear what caused the outage or whether patient personal information, such as social security numbers and addresses, were at risk.

In a statement to The CITY, One Brooklyn CEO LaRay Brown declined to explain how the disruption began or how long it would take to bring the system back online. did.

“One Brooklyn Health (OBH) recently experienced an incident that resulted in a network disruption. Upon discovering the incident, we took certain systems offline to limit disruption,” the statement said. “Our IT team, with the support of third-party advisors, continues to work diligently to get our systems back online as quickly and safely as possible in a manner that prioritizes patient care.”

State Department of Health spokesperson Jeffrey Hammond said in a statement: He declined to comment further.

A spokesperson for One Brooklyn and the state health department declined to comment when asked if the outage was due to a ransomware attack or other malware.

For nearly a week, doctors and nurses were unable to access patient medical records and results on computer systems. Instead, everything had to be written down on pen and paper, and test results such as CT scans and other images had to be viewed directly on the machine instead of being accessed through a computer anywhere in the hospital.

Network outages also mean doctors cannot process prescriptions electronically. State law enacted in 2016You should call the pharmacy directly instead. This is a time-consuming process, with longer wait times during peak flu seasons.

On Wednesday, Interfaith’s attending physician described the situation as “extremely busy.”

“There is no network here anymore,” the doctor, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal, told THE CITY. Computers, everything is down.”