November 22, 2019 Louisiana Department of Health: Network Outage Update

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Nov 22, 2019 - On Monday, the Louisiana Department of Health, just like many other state agencies, experienced a network outage and had to shut down all network computer traffic. The issue has been contained, and our teams have been working around the clock with the state Office of Technology Services to resolve the issue. 

The good news is almost all of the systems supported and monitored by the Department have been fully restored and are operational. In addition, there has been little to no impact to the general public.

Total systems supported by LDH

There are 285 computer systems that are supported and monitored by the Louisiana Department of Health. Of these, 45 systems are considered critical either to the operations of the agency or to the services that are provided to the public. 

Key Information

• In almost all cases, the impact to the agency was on the departmental side of the systems, not the public-facing systems.
• Medicaid providers were never at risk for not being paid
• All LDH staff was paid on time
• There was not a breach of patient information or any other personal information.
• The Medicaid public and provider portals were always accessible
• There was never a disruption to WIC recipients who needed supplemental food products. They could redeem vouchers and use their electronic benefit cards at all participating grocery stores.