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Technology Stocks : 2000: Y2K Civilized Discussion -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Hunt who wrote (67)	8/9/1999 6:04:00 PM
From: C.K. Houston	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 662

Y2K Status Of Medicare Providers Unknown Many of the 1.1 million healthcare providers that participate in the federal government's Medicare program have not participated in Y2K computer problem "outreach" programs sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), a recently released study from the US General Accounting Office (GAO) found. But the GAO could not determine the actual Y2K readiness of those healthcare providers' information and billing systems. The GAO reported its findings to the House Committee on Commerce and two of its subcommittees late last month in a study, a copy of which was obtained by Newsbytes. HHS's Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), which runs Medicare, has seen only 2 percent of all Medicare providers participating in Y2K conferences set up by the agency. And less than 1 percent of providers have called a special HCFA toll-free Y2K information hotline ... Additionally, "As of June 21, 1999, Medicare contractor testing with providers has been limited, and testing that has occurred had identified problems," the GAO also said in its report. For example, (it was) reported that one contractor tested with 434 providers and encountered initial problems with 123 (28 percent) - 9 of which were considered critical failures." ... [This is NOT good.] The report, GAO number AIMD-99-243, should be posted to the GAO's Website (http://www.gao.gov ) by the middle of next week. currents.net I hate to see what the repurcussions are going to be for the elderly and/or disabled. This could negatively impact a lot of nursing homes. Cheryl