There are still a few unready hospitals
AHA survey reveals potentially alarming situation
Just under 1% of hospitals express concern about not being completely year 2000 (Y2K) compliant by Dec. 31 in the American Hospital Association’s (AHA) most recent survey.
Fred Brown, AHA chairman, sees those few as a "real concern" and a "signal for us to focus our outreach efforts . . . on those few at-risk hospitals that think they could potentially have problems."
Another factor the survey revealed is that more than 60% of hospitals are having difficulty getting information from suppliers, and that is a barrier to compliance.
The AHA is working with the Food and Drug Administration to ensure that hospitals obtain the help they need from vendors, according to an AHA March 31 press release.
The survey was sent to 2,000 AHA members in February, and nearly 600 responded as follows:
• Medical devices, such as defibrillators and cardiac monitors:
— 90.4% expect to be Y2K-compliant or expect no problems;
— 5.7% are currently compliant;
— .5% expect non-compliance, with possible adverse effects.
• Information systems
— 84.7% expect to be Y2K-compliant or expect no problems;
— 12.9% are currently compliant;
— .5% expect non-compliance, with possible adverse effects.
• Physical plant, infrastructure
— 71.7% expect to be Y2K-compliant or expect no problems;
— 23.8% are currently compliant;
— .4% expect non-compliance, with possible adverse effects.
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