The looming millennium bug.

Evaluating and fixing date sensitive systems by the year 2000 is a significant challenge for the health care industry. Health care executives will be engrossed in this important management activity over the next several months. By now all critical business functions should have been identified and remediated. Contingency planning to ensure the continuity of high quality systems is an essential next step. Physician executives need to have a contingency plan in case Y2K-related failures occur. Most health care facilities have a disaster plan that has been tested in clinical scenarios. These plans should be reviewed to ensure they include procedures for handling problems with office operations, power outages, equipment failure, supply or pharmaceutical shortages, and patient evacuation. Financial systems are at risk at multiple points, including determining eligibility, claims submission, billing, and payments.