DOCS OFFICES AND MEDICAL FACILITIES

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i work a govt hotline. last week the White House sent out Dear Healthcare Provider letters across the nation giving them a list of things to do to get ready for Y2K!!! can you believe they sent this out last week!!??

so anyway, yesterday i got a call from a nursing home who has done NOTHING yet for Y2K. NOTHING. they are part of a larger entity of 30 nursing homes who we are pretty sure have done NOTHING. so, I tried to help them as much as I could to start contingency planning but THIS BLOWS MY MIND!!!!

we are also getting calls from docs offices who are only now starting to think about Y2K. UNREAL.

-- tt (nobody@nowhere.com), November 23, 1999

Answers

There are residential homes where people are placed, with 24 hour supervision.They are unable mentally to take care of themselves and I'm sure some if not all are on medication.

There is one located close to where I live.What will happen if their meds run out?Will they stay where they are or will they be moved to another location? After I moved here, I was told one man would be in the back yard yelling and cussing.Since I've been here I haven't seen or heard that. You could say I'm just a little concerned.

-- Maggie (aaa@aaa.com), November 23, 1999.


Know the nursing home I work for has done nothing to get ready for Y2K. Half the time there aren't enough blankets for two on a bed...when the propane tank is empty the generator is done for and the heat is off. 118 residents will be mighty chilly. Can't even think where they'd store extra food or water...this is a city that routinely has the water system down with line breaks or brown water and under a boil order just last week for 3 days. The meds come from a central pharmacy 100 miles away and are ordered by fax ! Reordered when 7 days left on old order. Have seen quite a number of faxes come thru with info on updating their computers for billing for medicare...but they just got new computers last week and they are sitting in the cartons still......eeeeek.

-- diana r.smith (mutti66@hotmail.com), November 23, 1999.

Phoned my surgery today - about an ingrowing toenail, of all things. Can't get an appointment until mid-January and note that they DON'T ask what the problem is, so I'm not getting bumped. The usual wait is around a week.

-- Colin MacDonald (roborogerborg@yahoo.com), November 23, 1999.

My dear wife had a doctor's appointment yesterday at the student health center at Western Michigan University. The doctor wanted to see her again in February for a full physical.

They could not schedule it. The scheduling computers will not accept a date of 2000.............

-- mushroom (mushroom_bs_too_long@yahoo.com), November 23, 1999.


Please tell us WHAT nursing home, what city and what group of homes.

With 30 homes and 50 seasoned citizens per home, you're talking 1500 people. They may need more help than you could give them by yourself over the phone.

-- Randers (coyotecanyon@hotmail.com), November 23, 1999.



I remember the brouhaha a couple of years ago when the student body president at WMU referred to the health center as the "Death Center." I've avoided the center for a basic reason: they suck. Of course, they're the best bet for poor college students.

It's nice to have insurance.

-- Tim the Y2K nut (tmiley@yakko.cs.wmich.edu), November 23, 1999.


Colin, old bean. Come on over to ma place. I've got a trusty old buck knife that'll take care o' that ol' hang nail.

-- ..- (dit@dot.dash), November 23, 1999.

Sounds like a good reason to buy a little extra preps and donate it... It certainly couldn't hurt.

-- Deb M. (vmcclell@columbus.rr.com), November 23, 1999.

Randers,

The nursing homes that Diana spoke of are, IMHO, going to be the 'norm' and not an exception. There are MANY others just like this one 'chain' of nursing homes. Over the last 10 years, health care providers (meaning nursing homes, rehab centers, and hospitals) have had incredible management/administrative challenges with reimbursement issues (private insurance companies, Medicaid/Medicare)... all have struggled, many have gone out of business or merged with other institutions, etc. The margins are slim to non-existent. Focus has been on compliance with ever changing regs, reimbursement changes, etc. On the whole, the health care field (or industry, as it is now so aptly described) hasn't had the 'luxury' of time/money/people to adequately assess and address the century date change problems. Their problems are in the here and now...patient care, how to keep the money coming in to be able to keep providing patient care, how to fully comply with regs., etc.

I have over 20 years of career experience in health care administration/management. My mother is a Nurse Practitioner; I have many friends who are health care providers. We are all aware of how tricky a juggling act it is *now* to provide decent patient care. If serious problems develop and persist, this is a huge catastrophe in the making.

-- Wilferd (WilferdW@aol.com), November 23, 1999.


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