Y2K MEDICAL PROBLEMS:
- Patient Records
- Pharmaceuticals
- Medical Devices
- Medicare
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Y2K COULD THWART ACCESS TO PATIENT MEDICAL RECORDS
LOS ANGELES, March 10 /PRNewswire/ -- A crucial issue has been left out of the Year 2000 computer debate ... omission could be catastrophic for anyone who's involved in the U.S. healthcare system. Not having hard copies of your medical records on January 1, 2000 might spell disaster.
infoseek.go.com
MEDICARE TO STOP MAKING PAYMENTS TO HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS APRIL 4 - UNLESS IS Y2K COMPLIANT FORMAT
Message 7694197
Last week the Senate Committee said that 83% of smaller healthcare providers (physicians, clinics, nursing homes) have done little or nothing towards Y2K remediation. Lots of healthcare providers will soon have claims kicked back and will NOT be getting paid by Medicare ... and most still don't even realize it!!! How sad.
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CRUSADER DECLARES THAT Y2K POSES THREAT TO NATION'S MEDICINE SUPPLY
New York Times - January 24, 1999
nytimes.com
SALT LAKE CITY -- As a nurse turned computer systems manager, Laurene West is one of a crowd of consultants able to describe how year-2000 computer malfunctions could interrupt the distribution of medicines. But as a brain tumor patient who needs daily doses of synthetic-thyroid and other drugs to stay alive, the 43-year-old Mrs. West has no rivals when it comes to convincing listeners that it matters ...
It starts with interruptions in the shipments of raw materials to drug companies, breakdowns in the factories that make crucial medicines and snarls in the transportation and warehousing networks that distribute them.
It continues with chaos at the nation's 118,000 pharmacies, where computers keep patient records, and at the HMOs and insurance companies that must authorize payments before most prescriptions are filled ...
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DRUG COMPANIES PREPARE FOR Y2K RUN ON MEDICINES
WALL STREET JOURNAL - February 2, 1999 - By Elyse Tanouye - Staff Reporter
Message 7622293
Will panicked patients attempt to hoard critical medicines out of fear that year 2000-related computer snafus could disrupt the drug pipeline?
Pharmaceutical companies believe that is a real possibility, and they are in the early stages of mapping out ways to potentially ramp up production of drugs they think patients will rush to stockpile, and to help wholesalers deal with larger-than-normal amounts of inventory ….
What would a drug-company technology expert advise patients who depend on medicines?
Here's what Susan O'Day, VICE PRESIDENT of information services at BRISTOL-MYERS SQUIBB Co., says she would tell her own parents, who take various medications: "Make sure you have a reasonable amount on hand."
WHERE DO MOST DRUGS COME FROM?
senate.gov (See HEALTHCARE & INTERNATIONAL)
- 80% of pharmaceutical ingredients come from abroad
- 70% of insulin comes from abroad
BUT
CIA SEES Y2K PROBLEMS OVERSEAS
February 24, 1999 - By JIM ABRAMS Associated Press Writer
dailynews.yahoo.com
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Year 2000 computer problem could cause serious disruptions abroad, including breakdowns in nuclear reactors and strategic missile systems, midwinter power outages and disruptions in world trade and oil shipments, a CIA official warned today ... it is evident that most countries ... are far behind the United States in preparing for the crisis ... The developing world faces the greatest threats of disruptions ...
The United States is regarded as the world leader in fixing the Y2K problem, but the draft of a report being prepared by two senators who have been studying the issue, Sens. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, and Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said the consequences within the country should not be underestimated.
During this year, they said in a letter to other senators, ''We will be confronted with one of the most serious and potentially devastating events this nation has ever encountered.''
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Y2K BUG HITS MEDICAL DEVICES
CNN - January 12, 1999
(IDG) -- Health care providers are accusing medical device makers of leaving them in a potential lurch come year 2000 by failing to give them sufficient warning that their equipment could fail to function.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning in the last days of 1998 that more than a dozen medical devices might not be able to accommodate the transition from Dec. 31, 1998, to Jan. 1, 1999. The devices include monitors, defibrillators and electrocardiogram recorders.
cnn.com
CLINICAL EQUIPMENT FAILS Y2K TESTS ... despite vendor guarantee of compliance
ComputerWorld - February 4, 1999
year2000.co.nz
Y2K has become literally a matter of life or death. Clinical equipment in some hospitals will fail on January 1, 2000 if it is not fixed or replaced.
"We've looked at six patient-controlled intravenous pumps and four weren't compliant," says Andre Snoxall, manager of information systems at Taranaki Healthcare. "Two of these would have allowed the patient to double-dose if one dose were applied before midnight and one after. The other two do the same, and then they stop working altogether." Alarmingly, Snoxall says they still have eight more pumps to check. "We expect half of them fail as well." But the most disturbing aspect of this discovery is that Snoxall has a written statement from the manufacturer assuring him of the devices' compliance.
HOSPITAL SYSTEMS FAIL TEST FOR Y2K
The Australian - January 6, 1999
theaustralian.com.au
ALMOST a third of computer-related equipment in South Australian hospitals, including cardiac monitors and drug distribution systems, have failed the millennium bug test ... The potentially disastrous results have forced the State Government to boost funding by $19 million to combat the effect of the bug …
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DEAR PHYSICIAN:
I used to be a Y2K skeptic. In fact, when I first heard people use the term Y2K in reference to the computer problems expected at the turn of the century, I really didn't know what they were talking about. Like many, I believed all the hoopla and hand wringing was an overreaction, and things weren't going to be as bad as some experts predicted ... Today, however, I'm beginning to understand what healthcare and other industries may have to contend with ... Charles S. Lauer, Publisher
MODERN PHYSICIAN Magazine
modernphysician.com
RX2000 SOLUTIONS INSTITUTE
Healthcare's Year 2000 Information Clearinghouse - Non-Profit Member Supported
Protect Lives, Protect Healthcare, Protect Yourself
rx2000.org
Cheryl |
