Mental Health System Compliance: A Follygreenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread |
I am a program director at a community mental health clinic in Michigan. For about one year, I had been telling the executive director that we needed to complete Y2K contingency planning at this agency. We have about 60 employees and an annual budget of about 3 million. We are one of about 70 contracting agencies with the county. The county administers and distributes the mental health funds from the state to contract agencies like mine.As I mentioned above, for one year I had been working on him. I gave him articles and research and lots of other information to verify the nature and severity of the problem. His response was that we are a small mental health clinic, not a regular business. I told him we are a business, and that our product was mental health services. I also explained to him about the heavy interrelatedness of the infrastructure, and how dependent on so many other entities for our existence. He then stated that because we are so dependent on others(like landlords, the county and state, insurance companies, etc.) that we could not control what these others do, so we didn't need to do contingency planning.
In March, we received a notice from the county about a training that all contractors had to attend. Guess what? It was a Y2K training where all contractors were mandated to conduct Y2K contigency planning. In fact, we were all told that if we did not develops contingency plans, or if our plans were not well designed, we may not get a contract with the county again for the next fiscal year - fiscal years go from October 1st to September 30th. For about a year, I was called the Y2K nut, overzealous, an extremist, too worried about litigation issues. Now guess who was made the Y2K program manager and is responsible for the contingency planning? You guessed it - me. Well there is one thing I didn't tell you. My agency is in the process of merging with two other agencies. When we merge, we will have about 350 employees and a budget of about 14 million. Needless to say, this is a tremendous job.
The first report on awareness was due April 30th. The next report, on inventory and assessment is due June 1. Obviously, these are very unreasonalbe deadlines. Were running out of time and this process should have been started over a year and a half ago. The county has made it clear that this was a full time job for at least one person at each agency. I have not been relieved of my program director duties. In fact, last week, the executive director told me that I was going overboard in my planning and reports. He told the executive directors of the other two agencies that we merging with the same thing. I had a meeting with the three of them last week, and tried to impress upon them that the merger didnt matter. It was all out contingency planning that was going to determine if we were around, or would go out of business. Its not that they are trying to be difficult. They just lack understanding, and there is not enough time to get them to understand. I told them about the interrelatedness of systems and gave them examples of how certain failures could affect us. Everything I said was minimized and explained away. They stated that they believed no other agency in the state was doing what we are doing(in regards to Y2K contingency planning), so the county couldnt get rid of every one. I disagreed and told them that it was irrelevant what everyone else was doing, and that we needed to shield ourselves from litigation and other problems. I also told them that the county could get rid of all contractors and farm the contract out to hospitals and other entities.
Well, here it is a Monday holiday (Memorial Day in this country), and I am at the office working on ths report. I also reccommended we seek out ITAA certification. This is the Information Technology Association of America. They are the standard for Y2K readiness certification. That idea was shot down because they believe that it was not needed, that I am spending too much time on this project, and that if we do something its better than what others will do. I reminded them that they were at risk for being sued, professionally and personally. Board members and directors are at risk. The response was that if we take reasonable measures, a court would throw the case out if someone tried to sue. Apparently there is a law in Michigan which shields directors and board members of non-profit organizations from being sued if they act in good faith and took reasonable measures to ensure safety. I told them that reasonable was not good because there were Y2K contingency planning standards out there, and I was following those standards. I also told them that they had been made aware of the severity and scope of the problem, contingency planning was mandated, and that there were guidelines for this planning. So if they did not follow the guidelines, they were at risk for litigation.
Anyway, my final word to them was that I was going to do the best job with this project that I could, given the tight timelines and lack of help. I also told them that I would make the recommendations that were appropriate, and that they could either accept or reject them. I am documenting everything, so I can protect myself from getting sued if someone tries. Ill let you know how it turns out.
Sincerely,
Dr. Ann Handrinos
-- Dr. Ann Handrinos (FBSAOPS@aol.com), June 01, 1999
Dr. Ann,Good Luck! And I'd talk to a Lawyer sooner rather than later.
Sincerly,
Father
"Anybody got Meds?"
-- Thomas G. Hale (hale.t@att.net), June 01, 1999.
Ann,Start creating a paper trail (if you haven't already) and put EVERYTHING in writing from now on. When things go bad and they start pointing fingers at YOU (which they will do since you are the Y2K manager) you'll be able to head them off and they'll have to start looking elsewhere to lay the blame.
-TECH32-
-- TECH32 (TECH32@NOMAIL.COM), June 01, 1999.
Dr. Handrinos, thanks for sharing your experience with the forum. I know there are MANY similar stories out there waiting to be told. Your experience will help those who are on the fence to make an informed decision regarding y2k preparation.Ray
-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), June 01, 1999.
Dr HandrinosThanks for sharing. Try not to invent the wheel agian. Here are a bunch of relevent links. The RX2000 operates a list serve that has lots of helpfull folks on it. Ask a question if you need an opinion.
Good luck
Health Senate Y2K Committee -- Health Care
www.rx2000.org - /data/listserv/digest/1999/
ListServ Rx2000 Solutions Institute
GE Medical Systems : Year 2000 Readiness Program
Y2K Compliance Documents / Test Procedures
Medical Devices and the Year 2000
Health Canada - Y2K - Issues and Responsibilities for Level 3 and 4 Containment Facilities
Veterans Affairs Year 2000 (Y2K) Resource Site
American Hospital Association Survey
Washingtonpost.com: Computers May Be a Risk at D.C. General
Senate Y2K Committee -- Health Care
www.rx2000.org - /data/listserv/digest/1999/
ListServ Rx2000 Solutions Institute
The Survival Medical FAQ - Intro
MedExplorer - Health/Medical Information Center
-- Brian (imager@home.com), June 01, 1999.
Talk about stress! You'll have to be a saint to not feel resentment. But they probably won't farm it out to hospitals -- hospitals notoriously smugged "beyond" the Y2K problem, and so are not and will not be ready. HMOs forced drastic slashes in personnel, everything automated, personnel left have no time to learn and relearn and update ... a big stew of inadequacy. Good luck! Document and CYA ;^) Charting charting charting new & murky waters ...xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxx
-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), June 02, 1999.
O.k. Ashton & Leska, I am curious. This is the third time in as many days I've seen you make commets like "and so are not and will not be ready." and "healthcare as we know will not exist". Now I am a resonable person, and have been doing some research into this myself (I'm working my way through Brians links above) but I have not found anything substansive as yet to indicate that the "system as we know it" will fail to operate.Could you elaborate for me, please?
-- Jim (not@right.now), June 02, 1999.
Jim The AHA is the most current survey so would be the best indication. The health industry has unusually large date related information to consider. While banks maybe loaded with money and power the health system is not so lucky. The less afluent areas are more likely to have a higher risk. Same old story.They also have legal considerations in respect to the equipment that they use as it has warranty issues that leave them with their suppliers compliancy statements and the actual fact as to whether the equiment will actually operate as normal after the turn over.
Then there is the billing, local utilities, suppliers, medication, staffing, and the fact that there is going to be more drunk people during the rollover than a world series celebration.
I am from Canada and they have recognized heath as the greatest risk. The report was issued May 31 and can be seen at
And a quote
I've said it before, and I re-iterate, the year 2000 issue for health care in one sense is one large supply chain management issue. We have very little information technology that we have built ourselves and that we can therefore, control ourselves. In the case of information systems that hospitals implement and have chosen as a replacement for a legacy of systems with year 2000 problems, there are not very many vendors of those systems. We are dependent on their resource allocations and which hospital gets dealt with first as to making those implementations go smoothly.
Also, hospitals and health care organizations, hospitals in particular, are 24 hour a day, seven day a week, organizations. There is no down time. It's difficult to create testing environments and to take equipment out of service long enough to test it. We have to, in reality, work around our existing operation and that slows things down. Sharon Baker, Ontario Hospital Association
-- Brian (imager@home.com), June 02, 1999.
Still reading & researching but I have to say, I'm just not seeing the indicators that the "system as we know it" will cease to exist. Problems, yes. Meltdown? I don't know; seems far-fetched to me, based on what I've seen so far. (And I know the argument that says "If you are the one on life support,and it quits on 1-1-00, it is the end for you")All the info from the GE site looks like NBD to me. free software upgrades, reboot the machines, or manual input.
most of the other links are reduntant or contain discussion groups (but I'm still reading)
So I will ask again (of Leska or Ashton) can you PLEASE point me to the info that you have that confirms your take on the medical community?
-- Jim (not@right.now), June 02, 1999.
Dr. Ann Handrinos -- one of your options, possibly already considered, is to find employment in a less endangered institution. From what you say, the handwriting is already on the wall in your present situation. The tasks you've been given are quite difficult enough, perhaps insuperably so, even within a supportive environment.Your skills should be of great service elsewhere.
-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), June 02, 1999.
Looks like your not going to get an answer, Jim.That's the way this place has gone of late; closed mindedness seems to be viewed as a virtue of GI
-- Regular (at@the.forum), June 04, 1999.
Jim, the current system will go down. Health care As We CURRENTLY Know It will go down. This has been covered on many threads; look in archives. This is not to say health care will cease to exist, but the current system of delivery most certainly will undergo major changes.Unless you have worked in the "system," perhaps it seems simple enough on the surface and difficult to see how it is so endangered. But inside the system are endless illogical tangles of forms, schedules, billings, govt reimbursements, etc etc going thru insurance gatekeepers, all on different computer systems. The whole thing is automated.
We've discussed the details on so many threads now we're tired of repeating ourselves. We know what we've seen, done, and continue to do/see/hear/watch. We had the responsibility of all ordering, tracking, secretarial, stocking, housekeeping, plus nursing duties in a Hospital and saw more than we could imagine! We've been in the homecare loop for 26 years now.
Granted, theoretically you could continue to receive health care in January 2000. But the supplies will most likely slow to a trickle, rationing will be in effect, and personnel will be grumpy about not getting paid. Insurance companies will shut down hospitals, clinics, facilities. Workarounds will start to clog.
The alternative healing arts will see an ascendancy; they are not so dependent on externals. And nursing, as far as consultation and "First Aid," will be available in grassroots form until supplies run out.
Hopefully the whole thing will not completely crash, and a different system can be raised quickly. There will have to be MAJOR changes!
Of course we could be wrong, but all our senses would have to be hallucinating for that to be the case. OR everything now bloopered would have to be fixed by 1/1/2000. Including the current spiral to insolvency many health systems are currently undergoing.
Do you really want to know? Get a job in a Hospital, keep your eyes and ears open, carefully watch how it all works.
For your reading intro:
An MD Looks At Post Y2K MedicineThen come back and post your findings to this Forum :^)
xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxx
-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), June 04, 1999.
LOL! don't waste your time Jim; that link is at "y2kaos" the super idiot site. Besides that, it gives NO FACTS as to why there is a difference between pre- and post- y2k medicine. Just assumes the system will die. No proof.Just look at who keeps company there...everybody wants your money, bud. It will just piss you off if you go there...I wouldn't waste my time.
-- Super Polly (get@grip.onit), June 04, 1999.