Reno area hospitals impacted by massive CrowdStrike global IT outage

Hospitals in the greater Reno-Sparks area are tackling the effects of a global IT outage that has wreaked havoc on airlines, banks and 911 services.

Northern Nevada Health System confirmed on Friday that it is dealing with issues from the tech outage that was triggered by a faulty software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, which has paralyzed many Microsoft-based systems worldwide.

More: Historic global tech outage affecting Reno-Tahoe International Airport flights

Northern Nevada Health System operates several hospitals and medical facilities under its umbrella in Reno-Sparks.

“Northern Nevada Medical Center, Sierra Medical Center and our freestanding emergency departments have been impacted by the global IT issues that are impacting numerous businesses across the country,” said Jamii Uboldi, a spokesperson for Northern Nevada Health System.

“Most of our systems are back to normal operations and we anticipate a full recovery sometime today.”

Renown Health, whose hospitals include the Renown Regional Medical Center, is also dealing with the impact of the global tech outage, albeit indirectly.

Critical care services are functioning well despite the CrowdStrike issue, according to Renown.

“Renown is not a customer of CrowdStrike, but many of our third-party vendors are dealing with the outage,” Renown said in response to a Reno Gazette Journal query.

“Patient care is not impacted at any Renown location including urgent cares, and our emergency rooms continue to accept ambulances and care for trauma patients.”

Northern Nevada Health System and Renown Health also stressed that the CrowdStrike-triggered outage is not a security-related issue. The problem was not caused by a cyberattack or ransomware, both health systems said.

No patient information, for example, was compromised, according to Renown.

Renown added that it is ready to provide care to the community even in the midst of the worldwide software outage.

Northern Nevada Health System is ready to serve patients as well but advised the public that service might take a bit longer than normal.

“As we work to restore our systems, we advise patients that wait times for outpatient services may be delayed,” Uboldi said. “We apologize for any delays our patients may experience.”

This article originally appeared on Reno Gazette Journal: Reno area hospitals impacted by massive CrowdStrike global IT outage