Sutter Health fixes system-wide outage, says it will investigate cause

The system-wide outage that struck Sutter Health clinics throughout Northern California on Tuesday was fixed early Wednesday, a spokeswoman said.

The system failure meant employees could not access patients’ electronic health records, emails or use the phones. Some patients with non-emergency surgeries or lab work were asked to reschedule appointments, while other faced delays.

The outage stemmed from the activation of a fire suppression system at one of the data centers early Tuesday, said Leslie Meiring, a spokeswoman for the health system’s Valley Area. She could not provide more information about the incident, saying only that there was no fire involved.

“We’re continuing to investigate the root cause of the fire suppression system activation,” Meiring said.

Tweets posted by Sutter Health early Wednesday said the company’s data remain secure. Sutter Health has several locations in the Sacramento region, including medical centers in Sacramento and Roseville, as well as a hospital in Davis.

Other clinics are spread throughout Northern California, the Central Valley and the Bay Area. Meiring said she did not know how many patients were affected by the outage.

This story was originally published May 16, 2018 at 12:25 PM with the headline "Sutter Health fixes system-wide outage, says it will investigate cause."