BUFFALO, N.Y. — An internet outage affecting Microsoft is disrupting flights, banks, media outlets and companies across the world, with problems continuing hours after the technology company said it was gradually fixing an issue affecting access to Microsoft 365 apps and services.
Locally some Buffalo-based healthcare providers have been impacted by the outage such as Kaleida.
In a statement from Kaleida's Senior Administrative Officer, Michael Hughes he said “Around midnight, Crowdstrike, the anti-virus software company ran its worldwide update. Like so many, Kaleida Health was initially impacted from an information technology standpoint. Around 3 a.m. we activated our internal incident command center to ensure that we can maintain operations. To that end, we implemented our normal computer “down time” procedures to ensure safe patient care. Throughout this morning our IT team and operational leaders have done an incredible job bringing our computer systems back online. We are encouraging all staff – as well as patients – to report as scheduled. For patients, this would include surgeries, outpatient procedures, ambulatory and clinic visits and any type of physician appointments.”
Kaleida is the largest non-profit in the region and runs 5 hospitals that include Buffalo General Medical Center, Gates Vascular Institute, Millard Fillmore Suburban, Olean General Hospital, and Oishei Children’s Hospital.
They also provide operations to long-term care facilities such as the High-Pointe on Michigan, the DeGraff Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Facility, the DeGraff Medical Park, the Visiting Nursing Association of WNY which is a major laboratory division, over 80 clinics and healthcare centers, and multiple ambulatory surgery centers.
The Erie County Medical Center (ECMC) told 2 On Your Side that none of their patient services have been affected.
Buffalo's VA Hospital said in a statement "The VA Western New York Healthcare System is operating as normal and has had no technology disruptions from the global IT issue. All Veteran patient appointments are taking place as scheduled."
Catholic Health representatives shared this statement "Catholic Health is continuing to provide high quality and safe patient care. We have activated our internal incident command center to ensure operations. While we have experienced some communication delays and have instituted down-time safety procedures, our IT team is working to bring back up any affected systems. All of our facilities, including medical offices, are open. Emergency and critical care have not been affected and non-urgent appointments and surgeries may be running on a slightly delayed scheduled."
We will continue to keep this story updated as more information becomes available.