Health Track: Health Midwest fights the Y2K bug

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By now, you’ve heard all about the Y2K problem, the millenium bug. It means there are computers all over the world that can’t read dates ending in double zero, as it will read in the year 2000. Have you ever wondered how that might affect your medical care? Just like government agencies and financial institutions, hospitals are busy "de-bugging" their computers.

Kent McAllister is not a doctor, but his work could affect the medical treatment thousand of people receive in the future. It’s his job to make sure health Midwest is ready for Y2K, the year 2000.

McAllister says, "I have responsibility for all of the information systems, and that includes both clinical and financial information systems."

All of the computer systems at Health Midwest have to be combed for date sensitive codes that can’t read dates ending in double zero. So how do you find those areas?

"Line by line, you actually read through the code to identify where those instances exist."

McAllister doesn’t have to read those lines of code. That’s being done by software companies. It’s his job to make sure the job gets done.

What happens if the software companies cannot finish? No one knows for sure, but problems have turned up in testing.

For instance, a pharmacy system in Atlanta computes dosages for children’s drugs by height, weight, and age. But if you enter ‘12-31-00’ as the birth date, the computer gives the dosage for a 100-year-old patient, born in 1900.

McAllister says, "That’s why the huge fear and huge risk is there."

The systems McAllister manages store medical and treatment histories for patients. If those systems shut down, patient care could be affected at Health Midwest.

"If you can’t get the information you need to make the therapeutic decision, that’s a problem."

That’s why he’s anxious to get the corrected software back from his vendors in time to test it, and make sure it’s ready for the new millenium.

Kent McAllister is not responsible for the computers that control medical equipment, machines that actually treat patients, but that work is well underway as well.