Vanderbilt University Medical Center said Monday it was unable to access patient medical records because of a reported outage tied to Epic, the electronic health record system it relies on. The problem was first flagged through phone operations at the Nashville hospital, and clinicians suddenly found themselves unable to pull up patient charts during the disruption.
As reported by WSMV, Vanderbilt phone operations said the outage was an effect of the Epic system and that "medical providers are unable to access any of their patients' records." The station noted it had reached out to Epic and other area hospitals for more information.
Why Epic matters at Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt has been running Epic across its main campus for years, and a recent VUMC news release highlighted that Vanderbilt Home Care joined the same platform in 2024, giving clinicians a single shared record across care settings. Vanderbilt Health News reported the rollout, which helps explain why an Epic-level problem would ripple through multiple services at VUMC.
What patients should expect
For urgent medical needs, patients should call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department. For non-urgent questions, patients are advised to contact their provider's office by phone. This story will be updated when Vanderbilt or Epic issue official statements or share timelines for restoring access.
