Bond Clinic is working to fix computer problems that have disrupted patient’s appointments this week.
Doctors and other employees have not had access to the internet or email on company computers since Monday, Marketing Director Ashley Scanlan said Friday morning.
“We are working diligently with a third party to investigate what the source of the disruption is and its impact on our system, and most importantly to restore full functionality,” Scanlan said.
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Speculation in the community that the computer system had been breached from outside was incorrect, she said.
“We are not able to fully access our scheduling capacities, so it definitely has impacted the flow of the number of patients we typically see,” Scanlan said. “We are still continuing patient care. We are limited with some of the things we are able do right now, but we’ve been doing this for 73 years, and that is our goal and our focus.”
Bond Clinic, based in Winter Haven, has nine locations, with centers in Lakeland, Davenport and Sebring. The clinic has 50 doctors and about the same number of mid-level providers, such as physician assistants and nurse practitioners, Scanlan said.
The problems have affected all of Bond’s locations, which share a computer network.
The clinic has continued to administer COVID-19 vaccinations through a partnership with the Florida Department of Health in Polk County, Scanlan said. The staff provided 50 vaccinations Thursday and planned to give 100 on Friday, she said.
Bond Clinic’s urgent care centers have remained open during the disruption. As of Friday, phone systems were working normally.
The clinic is physician-owned, Scanlan said, and doctors have had the option of continuing with appointments amid the computer problems. Medical offices rely on the internet for scheduling appointments and use electronic health record systems, which store digital versions of patient’s treatment charts.
“A lot of them (doctors) are just finding other ways to document in the interim,” Scanlan said. “We anticipate our systems to be up soon. We already have more functionality today than we did (Thursday). So it was a short period of time they were having to think outside the box, and we’re willing to do that so we can treat as many patients as possible.”
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Patients may call the clinic or visit in person to ask about rescheduling missed appointments, Scanlan said. She said Bond Clinic is working with existing vendors and an outside company to determine the cause of the computer system failure and to fix it.
“We want to take away the inconvenience as much as we possibly can,” she said. “We understand that a lot of people have many appointments they’re juggling, so our goal is to be as helpful as we possibly can until we are fully functional.”
Gary White can be reached at [email protected] or 863-802-7518. Follow on Twitter @garywhite13.
