CH09 (from author): how to plan for Y2K medical
disruption?
'asked in the TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) Q&A Forum
In a separate message thread ("Advance Warning Signals
Recession", Dennis raised the question: "In the Business Section
of the 31 Dec 1997 Chicago Tribune, Blue Cross and Blue Shield
unexpectingly annouced it was dropping its Medicare processing
contract, which it had held for almost 31 years. The "Blues"
processed over $300 million in claims each month for Medicare.
The Blues are the fifth Medicare fiscal intermediary to give up
the claims business. Robert Kieckhefer, a spokesman for the
Illinois Blues, said it decided drop its Medicare contract because
it's a "low margin, high risk" enterprise. While y2k concerns
were not mentioned, one has to wonder what is the high risk
element involved in dealing with Medicare? "
The fundamental reason for this, I suspect, is that the Medicare
claims processing system within the Federal government's
Health & Human Services (HHS) agency is not compliant, and
has been specifically noted as a risk area within the latest (Dec
20) Y2K status report as a risk area. (See the Chapter 10
section of discussion at
yourdon.com for
more discussion of this, as well as a URL for the OMB report.)
So my question is: what plans should we all be making to cope
with possible disruptions in hospitals, medicine, pharmaceuticals,
etc.? Does anyone know of any good locations on the Internet
for such things as (a) alternate sources of medicines, (b) shelf
life of common pharmaceuticals and drugs? Are there any good
"Medicine for Dummies" books or CD-ROMs that we should all
get if we lose access to trained doctors or hospitals for a period
of time?
Asked by Ed Yourdon (yourdon@sprintmail.com) on December 31, 1997.
Answers
I have glaucoma. I MUST have my eye medicine. I have
multiple prescriptions spread out in several drug stores. These
prescriptions are legal, written by doctors.
I am stockpiling as many years worth as I can.
Answered by rather not (rathernot@any.com) on January 01, 1998.
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