Stillwater Medical Center Reports Major Computer Outage, Officials Confirm

The Stillwater Medical Center hospital system is responding to a major computer outage that briefly shut down emergency room operations Monday morning.

Staff discovered the incident Sunday, June 13, according to spokesperson Shyla Eggers. Ambulances were diverted to other hospitals from about midnight to 7 a.m. on Monday, she said.

All facilities are fully operational as of Monday, including emergency rooms, Eggers said. Staff email is down, however, and facility phone lines are working intermittently.

Although the nature of the outage and its cause remain undisclosed, Eggers said the system reported it to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The outage impacted all SMC facilities including hospitals in Blackwell and Perry.

A state cybersecurity team is available to assist if needed, according to a spokesperson of the Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services. 

Two patients leaving the Stillwater facility Monday told News 9 their visits were normal outside of using paper instead of computers for documentation.

Eggers released the following statements Monday:

"Stillwater Medical values the importance of maintaining the operational integrity and security of our systems. On June 13, 2021, we identified an incident that affected access to some of our systems. After discovering the incident, we immediately took steps to ensure the security of our environment, launched an investigation with the assistance of a computer forensic firm, and notified law enforcement. We are currently working diligently to bring systems back online as quickly as possible. As we work to complete the ongoing investigation, our patients will continue to be our highest priority and as always we will look for opportunities to further enhance our existing security measures. We appreciate your patience as we work through this incident.

“At this stage of our investigation, to date, we have no evidence that any patient data has been compromised as a result of the incident. We remain operational and we continue to provide patient care. This is all of the information we have to share until our investigation is complete and we understand the full scope of the incident.”