Hospitals Report Clean Bill of Health for Y2K

Despite predictions of Y2K-related trouble in the nation’s health-care industry, officials at most Ventura County hospitals say they’re primed and ready for the new year, and expect no problems beyond typical New Year’s Eve rowdiness.

“We don’t think there’s going to be a meltdown of any of our systems,” said Monty Clark, of the regional hospital association’s Ventura office.

A recent federal report concluded that the health-care industry is among those least prepared for year 2000 computer problems. Small, poor hospitals were said to be most vulnerable.

But the eight local general hospitals have spent between $100,000 and $4.5 million over the last two years to upgrade computer systems and hospital equipment to make sure their operations click smoothly into the next century, officials said.

They’ve stockpiled medicine, and they’ve filled up on fuel. They’ve practiced for an array of technology-spawned medical emergencies.

“We’re as prepared as we could possibly be,” said Alan Rice, administrator at Simi Valley Hospital. “And if our [utility] service providers are able to deliver as they’ve indicated, this will be a nonevent.”

But just in case, hospital executives say they’ve canceled staff vacations and are pulling all-nighters themselves as the 20th century draws to a close Dec. 31.

“I’ll be here,” said Bill Clearwater, administrator at St. John’s Pleasant Valley Hospital. “And critical staff have been asked to be at the hospital or on call.

“I’ve been amazed at how prepared we seem to be for this,” said Clearwater, who is part of a preparation effort that includes St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard. “But we have contingency plans for all sorts of problems. We have water plans and power plans and supply plans, in case there are shortages or outages.”

Officials at every local general hospital said they have prepared for the worst, but really expect the best.

“We’re two years 2 million bucks into this,” said Kris Carraway-Bowman, spokeswoman at Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks. “And we’re not done yet. We meet every Wednesday for weekly drills in mock situations. But what’s so interesting is that if we did have problems all we’d do is go back to basic manual medicine, just like we practiced in 1950. And that does not compromise patient care.”

At the county-run Ventura County Medical Center in Ventura, where installation of a new administrative computer system is months behind schedule, officials say the $600,000 contract they awarded last Tuesday should complete the job by early December at a total cost of $4.5 million.

But even if the system is not fully installed by the new year, officials say patients would be safe because the hospital’s computer system for patient care is separate from the administrative one, and is Y2K compliant.

County hospital administrator Samuel Edwards said that despite difficulties installing its new administrative computer, the hospital is ready overall for the new year.

“We’ve looked at our pharmacy and medical supplies and medical gases,” he said. “We can run our generator and steam [heating] and water system for days [in an emergency]. We’re probably the best off of the hospitals, because we’re the oldest. New hospitals have computer chips in everything, the elevators and doors. We don’t have that technology.”

Edwards and his management team will be at the hospital New Year’s Eve. “But we have not identified anything external to us where people say there will be a problem. The water people, and sewer and gas and electric and satellite people all told us everything is fine.”

Down the street in central Ventura, officials at private Community Memorial Hospital say they have spent $600,000 to $700,000 to upgrade an antiquated computer system that needed improvement, regardless of Y2K.

“We’ve been at this for 18 months,” said Michael Bakst, the hospital’s executive director. The worst discovery when testing medical equipment for Y2K problems was that the date did not print out on EKG results. “So in the worst case, we’d enter the date manually,” Bakst said.

As for its backup plan, Community has a three- to four-week supply of food, a two-week stock of emergency medical supplies and a month of fuel in its generator tanks. The hospital’s roof serves as AT & T’s cellular phone site.

If bank machines shut down, Community even has a small amount of cash for employee needs, Bakst said.

Officials at the St. John’s hospitals in Oxnard and Camarillo say they’ve been fielding plenty of Y2K-related calls.

“The community is wanting assurances that we’re prepared for the transition, and we are,” spokeswoman Rita O’Connor said. The hospitals have spent $3 million to get that way, she said.

Paul McGraw, who is heading up St. John’s Y2K preparations, said 58 emergency plans for computer systems at the two campuses were written.

Now they have at least a two-week stock of medical supplies and four days of fuel for generators. Arrowhead has guaranteed supplies of drinking water and five 6,500-gallon buffalo tankers have been commissioned to supply water to flush toilets.

And most important, all hospital computer and medical equipment has been checked and upgraded when necessary, McGraw said. Drills have shown the hospital’s financial system will hold up, but even if it doesn’t, analysts are ready to revert to manual bookkeeping and check writing, he said.

“I think we all feel as confident as one could feel without knowing the unknown,” McGraw said.

Simi Valley Hospital has spent $1.2 million on computer software and technological upgrades, Rice said.

“We started in 1997 by putting together a Y2K planning committee,” he said. “Now we have a database that tracks the readiness of over 2,700 pieces of biomedical and plant equipment. All of our software is upgraded. There are not many things that demand the time and energy and resources of this magnitude.”

At small community hospitals in Ojai and Santa Paula, the costs have been comparatively modest, about $100,000 each, officials said.

“Most of our dollars have been spent on software upgrades,” said Mark Turner, executive director of Ojai Valley Community Hospital. “We’re right on target. There are a few things that need to be completed, but they’re not critical. They don’t involve patient care.”

Steve Lopez, chief financial officer at Santa Paula Memorial Hospital, said his 60-bed facility has spent $41,000 on computer upgrades, $13,000 on new personal computers and $14,000 on tests of medical equipment. It is spending $30,000 more to replace equipment that failed in the tests--pumps that force fluids into patients, nursery incubators and patient monitors.

“We’re ready,” Lopez said.