Medi-Cal healthplan website and computer systems down

Partnership HealthPlan of California, a nonprofit health care organization that serves more than 618,000 Medi-Cal members in 14 Northern California counties, is experiencing “technical difficulties, resulting in a disruption to certain computer systems,” according to its website, which is currently down.

The health plan’s phone systems are also down, according to message recording on their members line.

A single landing page on the health plan’s website said the nonprofit is “working diligently with third-party specialists to investigate the source of this disruption, confirm its impact on our systems, and to restore full functionality to our systems as soon as possible.”

Partnership serves Medi-Cal members in Sonoma, Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Lassen, Marin, Mendocino, Modoc, Napa, Shasta, Siskiyou, Solano, Trinity, and Yolo counties. Medi-Cal is California’s version of the Medi-Caid program.

There are about 100,000 Sonoma County residents who receive get their Medi-Cal health coverage through the health plan. These residents receive medical services at several local community health centers, as well as Kaiser Permanente.

The health plan’s technical difficulties are already causing confusion among some members, according to Gabriela Bernal-Leroi, chief operating officer of Santa Rosa Community Health, the largest consortium of clinics in Sonoma County.

"Partnership notified us Monday morning that systems were down and provided pathways for support while they were working to resolve the issue,” Bernal-Leroi said. “Our referrals department is receiving some calls from patients. Of course, it is confusing and sometimes frustrating for them, but we're doing everything we can to help."

Partnership members with “urgent questions” are being asked to email “Members.PHC@gmail.com with a phone number and we will respond to you as soon as possible. Please do not include any Personal Health Information (PHI) in this email.”

Medical providers with urgent patient care questions should email providers.PHC@gmail.com with a phone number. The health plan reminds providers also to not leave any personal health information in the email.

The health plan said it’s unable to receive or process treatment authorization requests, or TARs, at this time. “For procedures scheduled within the next two (2) weeks, inpatient admission or for urgent services, please proceed with providing the necessary treatment(s) and the appropriate TARs can be completed retroactively,” the health plan said.

A partnership spokesman could not be reached for comment Thursday morning.

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @pressreno.