The millennium bug: a patient-centered approach to diagnosis and treatment

Economic, regulatory, and competitive pressures compete for institutional resources, increasing the likelihood that critical delivery systems will be missed. Setting patient-centered priorities should now be the primary focus of the solution process. Risk assessment should work from the patient out, recognizing that the highest risk lies with components that most directly influence the care and health of patients. Any successful plan must include enough awareness and commitment to ensure the availability of funding and resources in a highly competitive environment. The remediation process involves both internal expertise and external entities, such as companies selling equipment, software, or hardware [8], with outside consultants if experts on year 2000 problems are not available internally. Aggressive pursuit of solutions to the year 2000 problem is essential to preventing severe difficulties at the turn of the century.