Cedar County Memorial Hospital issues update on recent IT disruption

On Friday afternoon, August 14, Cedar County Memorial Hospital (CCMH) experienced a disruption affecting its information technology (IT) networks. In response, hospital IT teams immediately took proactive steps, which included temporarily taking certain computer systems offline and pausing network access to protect the integrity of hospital systems.

While this rapid response was necessary, it has resulted in a temporary internet outage and the downtime of the hospital’s patient portal and Electronic Health Record (EHR) system, affecting all hospital services including Medical Mall Clinic.

As of today, the hospital’s IT department has made significant progress and has restored function to most of the IT infrastructure. Remaining systems continue to be brought back online in a careful, methodical manner to ensure stability.

Patient safety remains the organization’s absolute priority. The hospital immediately activated its comprehensive downtime procedures across all departments, which are designed precisely to ensure the continuity of safe, high-quality clinical care during network interruptions. CCMH has instructed patients to bring physical orders during the system’s downtime as well as a list of current medications.

Because medical imaging systems cannot currently transmit files to radiologists, the hospital safely and voluntarily placed its emergency department on partial diversion for the time being. Under this standard protocol, only trauma or critical patients requiring immediate advanced imaging are routed to neighboring facilities equipped to provide uninterrupted diagnostic services; the emergency department otherwise remains open. All other hospital operations continue under strict safety guidelines.

“Each department trains regularly for IT interruptions, and the clinical staff successfully transitioned to backup procedures the moment this disruption occurred,” said Don Carpenter, Chief Executive Officer of CCMH. “We understand there are a lot of concerns circulating, and we want to share the facts. Our hospital is open, and staff are safely caring for patients using standard backup protocols.”

The hospital asks for the community’s patience as teams work diligently to finalize the safe restoration of IT systems and conduct a thorough forensic investigation into the nature of disruption. Cedar County Memorial Hospital is committed to transparency. Further official updates will be shared as verifiable facts become available.