Software issue prompts UK Healthcare to reroute EMS patients to other hospitals

Jackie Drees -

A software issue at University of Kentucky Healthcare on Sept. 23 caused the Lexington-based health system to divert some patients who arrived by EMS to other nearby hospitals, CBS affiliate WKYT reports. 

UK Healthcare's registration system began experiencing issues the morning of Sept. 23 after a routine software update, which resulted in the health system not being able to electronically register new patients. In an "overabundance of caution" UK Healthcare diverted patients arriving by EMS to other facilities from about 11 a.m. until 9 p.m., a health system spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Becker’s Hospital Review

UK Chandler Hospital, Kentucky Children's Hospital and UK Good Samaritan Hospital were affected by the computer issue but still accepted patients who needed trauma, pediatrics, high-risk obstetrics and burn care. 

The health system's internal team and representatives from the software vendor were onsite and worked to resolve the issue. Additionally, "administrative and patient care teams, including an incident response team, were working to continually monitor the situation and minimize the impact for patients," the UK Healthcare spokesperson said. 

UK Healthcare released a statement to its website that the health system is no longer diverting patients who are transported via EMS.

Editor’s Note: This article was updated Sept. 24 at 10:45 a.m. to include a statement from UK Healthcare. 

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