By TOM KIRCHOFER Associated Press Writer

BOSTON (AP) - The end of the year is nearing and you have a few days off at New Year's. This might be the time, you think, to get that aching rotator cuff repaired or take care of the tummy tuck you've always wanted.

Think again. Do you really want to be in a hospital full of complicated electronic gizmos on the very day the Y2K computer problem is supposed to strike? The day much of the computer world could go dark?

Most hospitals insist they're not worried, even though they're crammed with sensitive equipment that would seem vulnerable to the Year 2000 glitch.

Hospitals also rely on thousands of suppliers who could be individually vulnerable to Y2K, jeopardizing delivery of everything from Jell-O and bedpans to electricity and anesthesia.

The Y2K problem stems from the inability of older computers to tell the difference between the years 2000 and 1900. The fear is that computers nationwide which control electricity, water, banking information, prison locks, payrolls, elevators and gas pumps will shut down when they read ``00,'' resulting in widespread chaos.

In fact, the industry says it has been working for years to make sure New Year's Day is just another day in hospitals everywhere.

The American Hospital Association says 99 percent of hospitals are fully Y2K compliant, or will be by the end of the year.

``Hospitals will be prepared because it's an issue of patient safety,'' says Fred Brown, AHA chairman.

Still, some health care providers are taking precautions.

A recent issue of Horizons, the newsletter of health insurer SecureHorizons, advised patients not to schedule elective procedures for the first few days of January 2000.

``We think it wise to take an `expect the best; prepare for the worst' approach,'' Horizons wrote.

The AHA calls such steps unnecessary.

``I would be very comfortable being a patient in a hospital on Jan. 1,'' Brown says.

The AHA said that even if some Y2K-related problems arise, Jan. 1 is both the holiday and a Saturday, a time when few elective procedures would be scheduled.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveyed Y2K readiness among state public health agencies late last year. It looked at 10 public health functions potentially vulnerable to Y2K problems, such as lab equipment or biomedical devices with date-sensitive microchips. Scores of critical machines, including defibrillators, cardiac monitors and heart-bypass machines are sensitive to time and date.

The survey found readiness averaging 77 percent among the 29 states that responded, which represented 75 percent of the U.S. population. The CDC repeated the survey this month and expects to announce the results by late July or early August.

Less than 1 percent of hospitals responding to an AHA survey expressed concern about not being prepared for Y2K, but 61.9 percent cited lack of information from suppliers as the No. 1 barrier to achieving total Y2K compliance.

The AHA says it's working with the Food and Drug Administration to ensure that hospitals get that information. An FDA site on the World Wide Web now offers compliance data on medical products from thousands of companies.

Still, there is some nervousness out there.

When querying critical suppliers, hospitals say they sometimes find themselves dealing with vendors' escape clauses.

``In the letters that companies send back to us, they want to give you an indication on how Y2K-compliant they are, but they leave a little gray area because they rely on others as well,'' says Christopher Bunnell, Y2K coordinator at Franklin Memorial Hospital in rural Farmington, Maine.

At Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, information technology specialists began preparing the hospital for Y2K in 1997 and more recently began working with suppliers of critical services to ensure the lights stay on and the water flows.

``Utilities was a big concern for us,'' hospital spokesman Jim Noga says. A meeting with water and power company officials helped ease his mind. ``My confidence level has gone up substantially in terms of their readiness.''

Outside the realm of crucial care systems, the nation's massive health care bureaucracy is also making preparations.

About half the Medicare providers surveyed this year by the Department of Health and Human Services say their billing and medical records systems are already Y2K compliant. Of those not yet ready, more than 90 percent of hospitals and 70-84 percent of other provider groups believe their billing systems will be compliant by Dec. 31.

On the government side, HHS reports that 282 of 287 critical systems were compliant as of April 30. That apparently ensures that the agency which reimburses doctors and hospitals hundred of millions of dollars annually for Medicare and Medicaid expenses will be able to keep the money flowing when the calendar flips to January.

But in Rockport, Maine, the Y2K problem hit early. The Penobscot Bay Medical Center's computer for accounts payable went on the fritz at the end of the hospital's fiscal year, March 31, 1999.

Mary Sargent, the hospital's Y2K coordinator, says she never knew what exactly choked the computer, but workers had to write checks by hand for more than two weeks.

``We're back to normal now,'' she says.

-- Mild Mannered Reporter (Clark@super.duper), June 28, 1999

Answers

Hardliner:

See what I mean about a deluge? 7 in one day, is that fair to everyone else? We told al-d to put all his good news on one thread, why should it be any different for MMR here?

Coincidence that he is carpet-posting us now in the light of other (deecee) news? Maybe, maybe not. Who cares, every little 'ting gonna be alright.

-- (html@guy.com), June 28, 1999.

Look before posting.

*Sigh*

Different emphasis.

*Some* Hospitals Say They're Ready For The Millennium Change--But Are Their Suppliers? (AP)

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id= 0010n2

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), June 28, 1999.

[snip]

The American Hospital Association says 99 percent of hospitals are fully Y2K compliant, or will be by the end of the year.

``Hospitals will be prepared because it's an issue of patient safety,'' says Fred Brown, AHA chairman.

[end snip]

Here's couple of statements equally as stupid:

I say the Boston Red Sox are the Worlds Series champions...or will be by the end of the year.

"The Titanic will not sink because it's an issue of passenger safety," said Capt. Smith.

-- rick blaine (y2kazoo@hotmail.com), June 28, 1999.

That's funny, it was'nt but maybe two months ago I was reading the head of Rx2ooo (Joel Ackerman) testifiying before congress about how far behind hospitals,doctors,health care in general ARE . Oh, excuse me the "American Health care community". He told Sen. Bennett and Dodd.that " We are convinced the Health care community is in deeply serious trouble due to anticipated problems of the year 2000 changeover. Rx2000 believes that patient care and indeed, patient LIVES are at stake." Somebody please help me with all of the contradictions that exist. I cannot fathom such ambiguity in such a technically exact science. does 2+2=4 or not?

-- David Butts (dciinc@aol.com), June 28, 1999.

We've worked in Hospitals. Toast. Mild Mannered Reporter is welcome to *be* in one at Rollover. End of debate! ;^)

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), June 28, 1999.

David, didn't you know that in the last two months hoardes of programmers swarmed hospital and supplier offices and systematically re-programmed, de-programmed, and replaced every single system with a y2k-problem, without errors, I might add.

What a bunch of baloney.

jeannie

-- jhollander (hollander@ij.net), June 28, 1999.

on csy2k, posted by alwynaubrey:

L.A. County/USC hospital is licensed for 2,045 beds....Approximate annual workload statistics for this facility are; admissions 51,600; patient days 296,100; outpatient and emergency room visits 764,100 and births 4,900....gee, they don't mention deaths or
THE 33,000 NON COMPLIANT MEDICAL DEVICES THAT TURNED UP DURING THEIR Y2K AUDIT OF THIS FACILITY.

Then there is L.A. County/King/Drew hospital...serves South Central Los Angeles....The King/Drew Medical Center "covers a 94 square-mile area and serves 1.2 million people, a population that is comprised primarily of people of color in a community that is identified as culturally diverse and economically depressed."{

"The Medical Center, the only Level One trauma center in the region, operates a paramedic base station and emergency heliport. King/Drew Medical Center is nationally recognized for its outstanding treatment of severe trauma and for its extraordinary neonatal care. The hospital is licensed for 480 beds; the Center has approximately 3,500 employees which includes 325 resident physicians, interns, and fellows training in 14 approved clinical programs.

With a trauma unit the size of the family room in a modest home, King/Drew treated 39% (1,276) of L.A. County's victims of gun-related trauma and 22% (2,656) of the County's Code Yellow trauma patients (vehicular injuries, life-threatening surgical admissions, intentional injuries such as assaults and stab wounds) in 1995."

L.A. County Harbor/UCLA 553 beds includes a Level 1 trauma center. Approximate annual workload statistics are: admissions 23,200; patient days 128,200; outpatient and emergency room visits 320,000; births 2,400.

And there are three smaller hospitals in the L. A. County system.

The hospital area is the one worrying L.A. County Y2K remediators the most. They don't have the budget to replace the 33,000 defective medical devices and they can't run the hospitals as modern facilities without them.
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-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), June 28, 1999.

Oh, I'm sorry. I thought we were told that there were no FY rollover problems April 1. (Seems we forgot to ask if there were Mar 31 fiscal rollover problems that were "rolled under" the carpet.)

The other quotes were equally silly - to pretend that a problem will be solved "because it is patient safety" is meaningless - it will be solved ONLY if a technically competent worker gets paid to go find it, fix it, and test it. If he or she does thejob right - it is fixed. If he or she fails to do THAT particular joib right - it won't be fixed, and the patient may die. (Or not be paid for, equally or greater a problem to the practically-minded hospitals.)

Now, they are admittenf that up to 80% of the public medicare/medicaid providers (non-hospitals) MAY NOT be ready! Wow! Considering that this industry is 14% of the US economy - that's a big chunck of change that will be billed incorrectly.

And allmost 62% (two thirds) said they were having problems getting data from venders. Now, how many of those products are failing, and how many are "probably" okay, but the venders don't want to say else they get sued. (But Clinton wants to veto the latest Y2K protection law - says it won't give trial lawyers enough money.)

But I'm forgetting - the headline said all hospitals will be compliant. [Ooops - I'm sorry. I actually read the story. ]

Sorry - clark. You have brought as much good news as the statue in Metropolis, IL. And have contributed as much intelligence to the debate as NORM. Rather, you have again shown that every news story confirms, but conceals, the upcoming tragedy.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), June 28, 1999.