Nearly a week after a ransomware attack took down several Allscripts cloud-hosted applications, providers are still struggling to access EHR and scheduling platforms as the company vowed to resolve complications with user logins.
In a call on Wednesday morning, Allscripts said it had restored access to desktop and mobile versions of its Professional EHR platform along with the patient management and scheduling platform known as Allscripts PM for “nearly all clients." Libby Moore, vice president of physician practice solutions at Allscripts, clarified that the company has restored the databases, but acknowledged that providers were still having difficulty logging into the applications themselves.
“The issue now is when you click on those icons, you’re unable to launch or login,” she said. “That’s the problem we’re trying to resolve at the moment.”
Several providers expressed frustration that Allscripts indicated the systems were back up and running even as many were unable still unable to access EHRs or scheduling functionality. In one North Carolina practice, one physician was able to log on, while the remaining nine were locked out.
I am an affected practitioner. It’s been a week now and Allscripts - a multimillion dollar company- still can’t get us back online. limited information from them. Still no ETA for recovery. Thousands of clients affected all over US.
— Evan Schiff (@Elschiff) January 24, 2018
“I resent that Allscripts is proclaiming that only a few were affected and that nearly everyone has access—it simply is not true,” Sarah Smith, the office manager for Nicholas O. Biasotto, D.O., a family practitioner in Newark, Delaware said in an email to FierceHealthcare.
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On Wednesday’s call, Allscripts officials acknowledged that many providers were still experiencing difficulties logging on and would likely experience periodic downtime and performance delays as the company rolled out updates to its hosted environment. Moore encouraged users to use the Allscripts mobile solution, where users would be able to view medical histories and schedules, but would be unable enter new data or submit insurance claims.
However, the mobile app is only available on the iPhone, leaving some providers with Android devices unable to view medical records. Dawn Ingram, the office manager for Starkville Urology, said her office is locked out of the mobile application because they only use the company's patient management platform, not Allscripts Professional EHR.
She added that the clinic has managed to continue seeing patients, but faced ongoing financial stress without the ability to submit claims.