Kaiser Permanente, a healthcare company, is currently experiencing a system outage, causing its hospitals and pharmacies to revert to pen and paper for prescription management. This issue is also affecting services across other parts of the company, leading to delays.
Kaiser Permanente spokesperson Kathleen Campini Chambers stated to The Verge that network interruptions at one data center are impacting some applications. While all clinical facilities remain operational, members might encounter delays in services such as lab, radiology, and pharmacy both online and in facilities. She assured that technical teams are actively working to quickly resolve the issue and suggested members visit kp.org for updates.
Alerts are visible on the company’s regional websites, including those for Northern California and Oregon/SW Washington, notifying users that they might face difficulties accessing certain site features like e-visits, billing, message center, and records.
One Verge staffer saw the problems firsthand today while trying to get a prescription filled at a Kaiser hospital pharmacy. They said all the pharmacy’s systems were down, including payment terminals, and that the pharmacists had to fill out a point-of-sale form to fill the prescription. Staffers at the pharmacy warned about long wait times, saying it could take an hour to fill a simple prescription.
A thread on Reddit also includes reports of issues from places like Southern California and Maryland. Kaiser Permanente has also been replying to users on X, saying that it is “aware of the system outages” and that it is “working to restore services as soon as possible.”
Update, May 28th: Added statement from Kaiser Permanente.
