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.

“Kaiser Permanente is currently experiencing network interruptions, at one of our data centers, which is impacting some of our applications,” Kaiser Permanente spokesperson Kathleen Campini Chambers says in a statement to The Verge. “All of our clinical facilities are operational. However, members may be facing delays in certain services such as lab, radiology, and pharmacy online and in our facilities. We deeply apologize for the inconvenience. Our technical teams are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. Members can go to kp.org for updates.“

The company is also showing alerts on its regional websites, including for Northern California and Oregon / SW Washington. “At this time, you may not be able to access some features on our site, including e-visits, billing, message center, and records,” Kaiser Permanente says.

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.

A thread on Reddit also includes reports of issues from places like Southern California and Maryland. 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.”

Update, May 28th: Added statement from Kaiser Permanente.