A Kaiser Permanente systems outage has pharmacies relying on pen and paper

Healthcare company Kaiser Permanente is dealing with a system outage that is forcing its hospitals and pharmacies to fill out prescriptions with pen and paper — and is slowing down services at other parts of the company, too.

“We are currently experiencing intermittent network interruptions with some of our applications, including the system that runs our electronic health records,” Kaiser Permanente says in an alert for Northern California residents. “At this time, you may not be able to access some features on our site, including e-visits, billing, message center, and records.”

“Additionally, some of our pharmacy, laboratory, radiology, and call center systems are experiencing intermittent interruptions. This could affect our ability to promptly process your prescriptions, lab draws or test results, or radiology procedures. We apologize for the inconvenience.”

One Verge staffer saw the problems firsthand today while trying to get a prescription filled at a Kaiser hospital pharmacy. They said all the pharmacy’s systems were down, including payment terminals, and that the pharmacists had to fill out a point-of-sale form to fill the prescription. Staffers at the pharmacy warned about long wait times, saying it could take an hour to fill a simple prescription.

The issues appear to extend beyond just Northern California, as a thread on Reddit includes reports of issues from places like Southern California, Maryland, and Portland. Kaiser Permanente has also been replying to users on X, saying that it is “aware of the system outages” and that it is “working to restore services as soon as possible.”

Kaiser Permanente didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.