Salisbury, MD — TidalHealth systems are continuing to come back online following an IT outage on Aug. 13. All TidalHealth locations, including TidalHealth Primary and Specialty Care offices across the region, are expected to resume normal operations on Friday, Aug. 14.
Patients with scheduled appointments on Aug. 14 should plan to arrive as scheduled unless they are contacted directly by their healthcare practitioner’s office.
The outage stemmed from a sprinkler pipe that was damaged during construction of the new Observation Unit at TidalHealth Peninsula Regional the morning of Aug. 13. The disruption impacted internet and phone connectivity and temporarily made TidalHealth.org unavailable. It also caused localized facility impacts at TidalHealth Peninsula Regional, including disruptions to air-handling systems supporting the operating rooms.
TidalHealth.org has been restored, and the affected air-handling systems are now operating normally. Other impacted technology and communication systems are continuing to be restored as teams work toward full stabilization.
Patient care continued throughout the outage. TidalHealth Peninsula Regional, TidalHealth Nanticoke and TidalHealth Atlantic were briefly placed on divert status. TidalHealth Nanticoke and TidalHealth Peninsula Regional experienced longer diverts for STEMI/cardiac catheterization and trauma, respectively; however, TidalHealth is not aware of any patients who were ultimately diverted.
All outpatient appointments were canceled for Aug. 13. TidalHealth Urgent Care locations reopened at 2 p.m.
“At TidalHealth, our No. 1 priority is always patient care,” said Cindy Lunsford, Ed.D., MSN, MBA, MAS-PH, EMHL, executive vice president and chief operating officer, TidalHealth, Inc., and president of TidalHealth Primary & Specialty Care. “We are grateful for the relationships we have with our community partners who assisted us during this outage. Throughout this situation, we have continued to care for patients. We apologize for the inconvenience of our outpatient closures, and we are thankful that patients being treated in the hospitals did not experience any disruptions to their care.”
Emergency backup communications and established downtime procedures were implemented across the system. Fire alarm systems were restored shortly after the initial power disruption.
Wicomico County 911 provided radios to the TidalHealth Peninsula Regional Emergency Department to strengthen communications during the outage and positioned its mobile communications unit at the loading dock on the Salisbury campus to support direct communication and coordination with emergency medical services.
Operations, Information Services and other support teams worked throughout the day to assess affected systems and restore services and will continue that work overnight as TidalHealth returns to normal operations.
Following full stabilization of the incident, TidalHealth will conduct a review to evaluate the cause and response, identify opportunities for improvement and determine any necessary enhancements to infrastructure, operations, business continuity and emergency communications.
