Tech Blackout Hits Healthcare
According to reports at 7:59 am today, July 19th, 2024, Microsoft announced they were suffering an outage. This outage may be linked to the global tech power outage that paralyzed multiple industries, including air travel, finance, food service, television, and healthcare. The shocking blackout was allegedly caused by a software update from Texas cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike (CRWD) that affected any Microsoft devices with a Windows operating system.
The malfunction caused a ricochet effect, causing several international airports to ground flights and many healthcare providers to cancel non-emergency procedures and sometimes divert ambulances to other trauma centers.
Many hospitals that rely on electronic medical record systems and sophisticated payment systems were left crippled and reverted to antiquated paper charting while awaiting a solution. Amidst the chaos, significant concerns were raised about delayed medical treatments, compromised patient care, and serious medication errors while working with unacquainted manual process systems.
Hours later, Microsoft said the problem was fixed. Most companies reported being able to restore their services, but many companies are still experiencing troubleshooting issues.
For live updates or more about the far-reaching impact of this worldwide outage, check out NBC.
