Are hospitals prepared for the Millennium Bug’?
Experts say problem will take years to fix
Most hospitals throughout the country have not yet addressed the peculiar computer problem called the "Millennium Bug" that will throw computer systems into chaos when their internal calendars find it impossible to roll over to the year 2000, according to a survey by a Chicago law firm specializing in health information technology.
The Millennium Bug is a result of the way computer hardware and software have been programmed to recognize only two-digit date fields, such as "97," instead of four-digit fields, such as "1997." When computers’ internal calendars roll over from 1999 to 2000, they will, in essence, consider "00" to be an invalid year. Computer experts predict that the discrepancy will cause many systems to produce invalid data and others to crash.
A nationwide survey of 1,700 hospitals by Gordon & Glickson finds that only 20% of respondents have developed a strategy to contend with the Millennium Bug. Eighteen percent say they are planning no action to protect their systems, while the rest presumably have planned some sort of response but have not yet implemented it. Forty percent of those surveyed say they expect to complete the fix in the year 1999, cutting it very close in case of any unanticipated delays or failures. Computer experts say that while the problem seems simple, reconfiguring computer systems to deal with the Millennium Bug could take years of work.
Diana J.P. McKenzie, JD, a partner with Gordon & Glickson, cautions that those who delay dealing with the Millennium Bug will find the solution increasingly difficult and expensive. Qualified computer programmers will be in short supply as the year 2000 approaches, and the few available programmers will command a high fee. "Ultimately, those hospitals and their officers and directors may be held legally accountable for ignoring the issue," she warns.
These are some other findings of the survey:
• Interest in telemedicine is growing, but appropriate policies have not kept pace. Nearly 70% of hospitals are using or planning to use telemedicine, but of those currently involved, less than half have confidentiality policies tailored to those applications.
• Most respondents safeguard computerized patient records with passwords and written policies, but less than half use tracking technologies for early detection of security breaches. More than a third wait at least a day to deny terminated employees access to computerized patient records.
• Most hospitals allow patients to review their records. Only 5% do not. Of those that do, 82% have formal policies to handle requests to review records.
• More than half of the survey respondents outsource their equipment maintenance, and nearly a third contract for application development. But 23% do not outsource any information technology functions, citing concerns over cost, efficiency, and control.
For more information, contact Diana J.P. McKenzie, Gordon & Glickson, 3600 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611. Telephone: (312) 321-0084.
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