The “security incident” that shut down information technology systems at Nebraska Medicine early Sunday continued into its fourth day Wednesday.
The computer network outage has led to the postponement of patient appointments this week and required staffers in the system’s hospitals and clinics to chart by hand. One patient’s appointment scheduled for Friday already has been canceled.
An Omaha mom arrived with her son at a University of Nebraska Medical Center pediatric dental clinic Wednesday only to be told the system was down.
Alexie Herrmann said she was frustrated because she had taken her son out of his first day of in-person school for the appointment. He had not been seen in the dental clinic for almost a year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“I am definitely frustrated, and a little concerned, because they didn’t seem (to know) much of what’s going on,” she said.
A health system spokesman said in an email Wednesday that Nebraska Medicine officials were working as quickly as possible to restore systems. However, no further information was made available Wednesday regarding the extent or cause of the incident nor how long it might take to resolve.
Herrmann said she does not know whether a physical therapy appointment for her son will take place as scheduled Friday. She said she tried to call the clinic where he is seen but the phones appeared to be down and she could not get a response. Nor was she able to find information about appointments on the health system’s website or Facebook page.
Nebraska Medicine patients also were unable to access their online medical information.
Other hospital systems have had to deal with computer security issues. In February 2019, a device brought into a CHI Health location by a third-party vendor introduced a virus, also known as malware, into the health system’s network.