This archive report was first published on 7 September 2019.
On Friday night, a major phone outage affected more than a dozen hospitals in and around New York City, leaving them unable to receive incoming calls.
According to hospital officials, there was no danger to patients, and contingency plans were being made to address the issue.
The affected hospitals included those in the Northwell Health system, which runs about 20 hospitals in the area, including Lenox Hill Hospital and the Manhattan Eye, Ear & Throat Hospital on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
Jason Molinet, a Northwell spokesman, stated that all but two of the health network’s hospitals in the area were unable to receive incoming calls, but declined to specify which hospitals were affected.
Outgoing calls were not impacted by the outage.
“Several Northwell Health facilities have been impacted by what we believe is a major regional phone outage that began Friday evening,” Mr. Molinet said. “This intermittent phone issue is affecting inbound calls only and automatically triggered our emergency operations plan, which includes the use of workaround systems. Our main goal is to ensure patient safety. We’re actively working with our phone carrier toward restoration.”
At 11:45 p.m., Mr. Molinet reported that phone service was being restored gradually by the hospitals’ main phone carrier, Altice.
Altice spokeswoman Lisa Anselmo stated, “We are aware of the situation and appreciate our customers’ patience as we work diligently to identify the root cause and resolve the situation.”
Verizon, another major telecommunication provider to the region, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
