Patients and loved ones express concern as MercyOne deals with IT outage

TONIGHT, AN I-T OUTAGE IS DISRUPTING A MAJOR DES MOINES METRO AREA HOSPITAL. AND MERCYONE MEDICAL CENTER ISN'T SAYING MUCH ABOUT IT. BUT SOME PATIENTS ARE TALKING. KCC SENIOR REPORTER TODD MAGEL IS LIVE DOWNTOWN - AT MERCYONE AND TODD - WHAT ARE THEY SAYING? SO FAR MERCY ONE IS BEING PRETTY VAGUE ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED AND HOW IT'S AFFECTING HOSPITAL OPERATIONS. BUT WE ARE HEARING FROM MANY PATIENTS AND THEIR FAMILIES. (MOLLY TOPF/ DES MOINES) <THEY SAID THE COMPUTERS ARE DOWN. AND I THOUGHT WELL, COMPUTERS GO DOWN, BUT THEN THEY SAID THEY'RE DOWN 98 HOURS AND I THOUGHT WELL THAT'S A BIG DEAL.> MOLLY TOPF (TOP) FIRST HEARD ABOUT MERCY ONES COMPUTER ISSUES ON MONDAY. THAT'S WHEN A SPOKESPERSON TOLD KCCI THERE WAS A QUOTE "IT SECURITY INCIDENT." MERCYONE NOW SAYS IT'S DUE TO AN IT OUTAGE. TOPF'S MOTHER IS BEING TREATED FOR PARKINSON'S AT MERCY ONE IN WEST DES MOINES. BUT THE STAFF WAS UNABLE TO CHECK HER CHART BECAUSE AN I-T ISSUE SHUT DOWN MANY OF THE MERCY ONE'S COMPUTERS. INSTEAD THEY TOLD TOP THEY WERE FORCED TO USE PAPER RECORDS. <SO IT'S REALLY IMPORTANT FOR A CARE PROVIDE TO LOOK AT THE HISTORY OF HEALTH ISSUES., AND TO KNOW WHAT MEDICINE SHE HAS REACTIONS TO, WHAT MEDICINES ARE GOOD FOR HER. SO WHEN THEY CAN'T LOOK AT THAT HISTORY IN A COMPUTER THAT CONCERNS ME.> IN A STATEMENT MERCY ONE SAYS : OUR CARE TEAMS ARE IN CONSTANT COMMUNICATION WITH ONE ANOTHER AND DOCUMENTING CARE THROUGH PAPER RECORDS. OUR TEAM IS COMMITTED TO ENSURING SAFE, QUALITY CARE FOR ALL PATIENTS. WE CONTINUE TO WORK WITH COMMON SPIRIT AROUND THE CLOCK TO RESOLVE THE IT SYSTEM DOWNTIME THAT MERCY ONE CENTRAL IOWA IS EXPERIENCING. ( TIERRA MAYBERRY/ ANKENY) <IF THEY CAN'T GET TO HER CHARTS HOW WOULD THEY KNOW WHAT MEDICATIONS, IF THERE WAS A MEDICATION CHANGE, OR EVEN GETTING TESTS TO SEE WHAT WAS ACTUALLY WRONG WITH HER.> TIERRA MAYBERRY ALSO HAS CONCERNS. HER SISTER IS BEING TREATED FOR PNEUMONIA AT MERCY ONE WEST. MAYBERRY SAYS SHE KNOWS THAT DOCTORS AND NURSES ARE DOING ALL THEY CAN, BUT SHE IS WORRIED THAT COMPUTER ISSUES MIGHT PREVENT THEM FROM SEEING HER SISTERS MEDICAL HISTORY. <WHERE WAS THE CONTINGENCY PLAN WHEN THEY DECIDED TO GO DIGITAL> MERCY ONE HAS NOT SAID HOW LONG IT WILL TAKE TO FIX T

Parts of MercyOne's computer system are currently offline.On Monday, MercyOne sent a statement to KCCI, regarding an "IT security incident," that caused them to take some of their systems offline."MercyOne Central Iowa continues to use CommonSpirit Health technology as we prepare to integrate into Trinity Health. CommonSpirit is managing an IT security incident, which is impacting some of our facilities. As a precautionary step we have taken certain IT systems offline, which may include electronic health record (EHR) systems and other systems. Our facilities are following existing protocols for system outages and taking steps to minimize the disruption."On Wednesday, patients and their families at MercyOne Medical Center in West Des Moines say they are watching their caregivers keep paper records.On Wednesday, MercyOne told KCCI they are classifying the incident as an "IT outage"MercyOne shared the following statement:"MercyOne Central Iowa continues to use established downtime procedures due to the IT outage. Care teams are in constant communication with one another and documenting care through paper records. Our team is committed to ensuring safe, quality care for all patients. We continue to work with CommonSpirit around the clock to resolve the IT system downtime that MercyOne Central Iowa is experiencing along with other CommonSpirit locations. We will continue to share updates as we learn more information from CommonSpirit."KCCI spoke to patients and their families who shared their concerns about the current procedures MercyOne is following."They said the computers are down. And I thought,' well, computers go down.' But then they said they're down 98 hours and I thought, 'well, that's a big deal," Mollie Topf said.Topf's mother is in the hospital for treatment of her Parkinson's disease."With my mom, she's elderly, she's got a history of health issues, and so it's really important for a care provider to look at the history of health issues and to know what medicine she has reactions to, what medicines are good for her, so when they can't look at that history in a computer that concerns me," Topf said. Tierra Mayberry also has concerns. Her sister is being treated for pneumonia at MercyOne West. Mayberry says she knows that doctors and nurses are doing all they can, but she is worried that computer issues might prevent them from seeing her sister's medical history."If they can't get to her charts, how would they know what medications, if there was a medication change, or even getting tests to see what was actually wrong with her?" Mayberry said. "Where was the contingency plan when they decided to go digital?"Previous coverage:

DES MOINES, Iowa —

Parts of MercyOne's computer system are currently offline.

On Monday, MercyOne sent a statement to KCCI, regarding an "IT security incident," that caused them to take some of their systems offline.

"MercyOne Central Iowa continues to use CommonSpirit Health technology as we prepare to integrate into Trinity Health. CommonSpirit is managing an IT security incident, which is impacting some of our facilities. As a precautionary step we have taken certain IT systems offline, which may include electronic health record (EHR) systems and other systems. Our facilities are following existing protocols for system outages and taking steps to minimize the disruption."

On Wednesday, patients and their families at MercyOne Medical Center in West Des Moines say they are watching their caregivers keep paper records.

On Wednesday, MercyOne told KCCI they are classifying the incident as an "IT outage"

MercyOne shared the following statement:

"MercyOne Central Iowa continues to use established downtime procedures due to the IT outage. Care teams are in constant communication with one another and documenting care through paper records. Our team is committed to ensuring safe, quality care for all patients. We continue to work with CommonSpirit around the clock to resolve the IT system downtime that MercyOne Central Iowa is experiencing along with other CommonSpirit locations. We will continue to share updates as we learn more information from CommonSpirit."

KCCI spoke to patients and their families who shared their concerns about the current procedures MercyOne is following.

"They said the computers are down. And I thought,' well, computers go down.' But then they said they're down 98 hours and I thought, 'well, that's a big deal," Mollie Topf said.

Topf's mother is in the hospital for treatment of her Parkinson's disease.

"With my mom, she's elderly, she's got a history of health issues, and so it's really important for a care provider to look at the history of health issues and to know what medicine she has reactions to, what medicines are good for her, so when they can't look at that history in a computer that concerns me," Topf said.

Tierra Mayberry also has concerns. Her sister is being treated for pneumonia at MercyOne West. Mayberry says she knows that doctors and nurses are doing all they can, but she is worried that computer issues might prevent them from seeing her sister's medical history.

"If they can't get to her charts, how would they know what medications, if there was a medication change, or even getting tests to see what was actually wrong with her?" Mayberry said. "Where was the contingency plan when they decided to go digital?"

Previous coverage:

Patients and loved ones express concern as MercyOne deals with IT outage

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