North Jersey Hospitals Hit With Tech Trouble, Procedures Delayed

NORTH JERSEY — A worldwide technical outage has delayed some procedures at hospitals around New Jersey, while others using different software have remained unaffected.

"As patient safety is our highest priority and out of an abundance of caution, we are delaying some procedures for patients until this situation is resolved," said Robert Cavanaugh, a spokesperson for RWJBarnabas Health, which runs hospitals including Cooperman Barnabas in Livingston, Jersey City Medical Center, Monmouth Medical Center, and many other facilities.

However, around 4:45 p.m. on Friday, Cavanaugh gave an update:

“At this time, many disruptions caused by the global Microsoft outage have been resolved across RWJBarnabas Health. Trinitas Regional Medical Center continues to experience minor operational impact which is anticipated to be resolved within the next several hours. We will continue to actively review, prioritize issue resolution and monitor the situation, and provide additional updates as needed. Thank you for your continued patience and understanding.”

Prior Reporting

Reports Friday morning said that issues with Microsoft and a global cybersecurity firm, CrowdStrike, had caused delays and outages at airports, banks, media outlets, and hospitals around the world, including at local airports. READ MORE: Flights At Newark, NYC Airports Delayed By Shutdown

“RWJBarnabas Health is currently experiencing an impact to some computer and telecommunications systems as a result of the defective Microsoft update from Crowdstrike," Cavanaugh said. "Some clinical and patient-facing systems within the hospitals have been impacted, and we are experiencing telephone system issues at RWJUH in New Brunswick and also Monmouth Medical Center.

"Our IT&S team has received instructions on how to remediate the code from Microsoft, and technicians are actively making necessary repairs as quickly as possible."

Others Unaffected

Several other North Jersey medical groups said that so far, they remain unaffected.

Benjamin Goldstein of Hackensack Meridian Health said Friday afternoon, "We’re a strong Google partner so hospital operations and patient facing systems are not directly impacted and we continue to evaluate all of our systems." Their group runs Palisade Medical Center, Hackensack Medical Center, Jersey Shore Medical Center, and others.

A CarePoint spokesperson said their hospitals, which include Bayonne Medical Center, Hoboken Medical Center, and Christ Hospital, also have not experienced delays.

Karen Zatorski of Atlantic Health System, which runs Morristown Medical Center, Overlook Medical Center, Newton Medical Center, and several others, said, "Similar to organizations across the globe, we are continuing to assess the situation. At the moment clinical services across the system remain operational and the safe delivery of high-quality patient care remains our focus."

A representative from St. Joseph's Health, which has care centers in Wayne, Paterson, and Totowa, reported some IT issues but said patient care has not been affected.

"We have processes in place to manage through these technical issues, which have been underway since the outage first occurred," said Pam Garretson, the executive director of marketing and public relations.

"Patient care has not been impacted and our hospitals, physician practices and outpatient facilities remain open," Garretson said.

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READ MORE: Global Tech Outage Grounds Flights, Knocks Banks, Hospitals Offline