Beaumont COVID-19 Vaccine Scheduling Glitch Allows 'Cut In Line'

Royal Oak MI

01 February, 2021

9:13 AM

Description

ROYAL OAK, MI — Beaumont Health recently detected and shut down a scheduling issue that essentially allowed 2,700 people to "cut in line" for COVID-19 vaccines, the health system said Monday. The health system's information technology team detected and shut down unusual activity Saturday related to online COVID-19 vaccination scheduling on Beaumont's Epic electronic medical record system, officials said. "These appointments violate the ethical distribution framework Beaumont created based upon the State of Michigan's mandatory vaccine guidelines," Beaumont Health Senior Vice President & Chief Information Officer Hans Keil said. "We regret 2,700 people in our community became victims of this unfortunate incident. "We remain committed to vaccinating as many people as possible who meet the State's guidelines. We are also notifying the Michigan Hospital Association and other Michigan health systems about the issue." The team discovered that someone took advantage of an Epic scheduling tool vulnerability and shared an unauthorized scheduling pathway publicly, allowing 2,700 people to "cut in line" and register for an unauthorized vaccine appointment, officials said. Beaumont said it is canceling all appointments scheduled through the unauthorized pathway. People who made their appointment through the unauthorized link will be notified via email, the health system said. Beaumont also immediately notified the national Epic corporate office so it could communicate with other health systems to prevent this from occurring elsewhere. In a statement, Epic officials said the sharing of information did not compromise any medical records and hospital data. "We are working with Beaumont to address this situation, but this will not interfere with those who are currently eligible to schedule an appointment and receive a vaccine," the statement read.