found on Dejanews.com:

"I'm a pharmacy technician and I don't think you have anything to worry about. The pharmacy computer systems I've worked with have been dos based and won't need a y2k correction like unix based systems do. In addition, each pharmacy is required to keep track of every prescription filled, which includes a print out of all of the prescriptions filled each day. I don't think pharmacies will have problems with the y2k bug, but if they do they'll have the records to look up the last time your prescriptions were refilled. The insurance billing will take longer though."

-- Karen Cook (browsercat@hotmail.com), October 13, 1998

Answers

oh boy... dos is not compliant, and there are RTC BIOS concerns too on a PC... and then there is the pharmacy software... sheesh... I think this pharm tech is in for a wake up call... _________________

-- Michael Taylor (mtdesign3@aol.com), October 13, 1998.

And even if she's right and this pharmacy is compliant, how is this pharmacy sure it can get new medecine supplies? Transportation isn't compliant. Are pharmaceutical companies compliant?

But it's one good news still. One more business compliant.

-- Chris (catsy@pond.com), October 13, 1998.

Blanket statments like "transportation is not compliant" just flat out annoy me. Transportation is not a monolithic block composed of just one outfit. Which ones are and which are not compliant is a matter that has yet to be determined, but I am absolutely certain that some are compliant as of right now, just as I am absolutely certain that some will not be ready as of 1/1/00. I am pretty darn certain that Landstar Ligon is compliant (for instance), but I don't think All Freight is. (I have worked at both outfits - LL was working on compliance in 95 and seems to be done - they replaced darn near everything - a multi million dollar upgrade. All Freight is still running on multi user dbase apps as far as I know.)

-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), October 14, 1998.

"Blanket statments like "transportation is not compliant" just flat out annoy me. Transportation is not a monolithic block composed of just one outfit."

I hear you on that one!

Rick

-- Rick Tansun (ricktansun@hotmail.com), October 14, 1998.

Blanket statements can be misleading. Most of you have probably picked up on the fact that I'm very concerned about small business and denial of potential Y2K related problems. But I can 100% tell you that it's not going to effect all small business. I have been in many small businesses that are not compliant; but that fact is not going to significantly effect them. (As far as their own INTERNAL operations go.) If they walk in on Jan 3, 2000 and the computers aren't working correctly, they'll grunt and go back to work. However, two things come to mind here. They don't realize that their supply chain and/or their customer base may still (probably will) cause them to go out of business or at least suffer huge cash flow problems. Secondly, let's make the assumption that only 70% or so have compliance problems.(Our experience will support this). Also assume that of the 70% mentioned above that 1/3 of these will experience problems that are significant enough to effectively shut down either them or their cash flow. I don't think most of these people realize what the cumulative effect of this amount of shutdowns/slowdowns will bring upon us all.

-- Greg Sugg (gregsugg@bbnp.com), October 14, 1998.

The quote that systems that are "dos based and won't need a y2k correction like unix based systems do" is a complete fallacy anyway. Where do people get these ideas? DOS is not Y2K compliant, the PC hardware running it is probably not Y2K compliant, furthermore -- AND MOST IMPORTANTLY -- the question as to whether the APPLICATION SOFTWARE that he thinks of as his "pharmacy computer system" is or is not Y2K compliant apparently was never even considered! Such is the level of Y2K awareness ....

-- Joe (jsprat@eld.net), October 14, 1998.

Just where the h**l does she think she's going to get that "printout" from? What if power is up & down? Power out completely? Refrigeration down for ??? hours? Lights or water out? Washng hands still important around a pharmacy?

Time lock safes anyone? If manual, will they be able to get there? DOS-based systems (individually programmed probably, old system (definitely), old processor (probably), no legacy programmer to fix it (probably)). Forget her misconception about Unix (she's thinking mainframe) machines. Her local machine is what is probably going to drill her.

I'd go someplace else for my drugs. This place won't be open for business unless nothing goes wrong in the infrastructure....

-- Robert A. Cook, P.E. (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), October 14, 1998.

Robert,

<< Just where the h**l does she think she's going to get that "printout" from? >>

Daily reports run at the end of the day each and every day leading up to 12/31/1999?

Yes, I found the position taken by the pharmacy tech rather naive, but considering it comes from a person that may never have laid a hand on a keyboard until s/he got that job it's not surprising.

But let's stop and think just a moment before we leap to the conculsion that someone is a total idiot. If the pharmacy in question is in the habit of doing a daily list of all prescriptions filled (and the three pharmacies I called this morning are) then the person making the statement would have no reason to expect that the printouts would not be available for the days leading up to a system failure.

-- Paul Neuhardt (neuhardt@ultranet.com), October 15, 1998.

A loooong time ago I set up an antiquated computer system for a pharmacy. The bossess were just going tech in 93!!! There is NO WAY that system is complient. However, every morning we printed out the previous days report of prescriptions filled, a complee one for the store, two specific ones for the DEA, on some enforcement agency, on narcotic drugs, and specific ones for the convalecent hospitals we served. These reports were stored for up to 1 year. My suggestion would be to look for a small local pharmacy,where you can talk to the owner and bookkeeper, and see if they do the same.

Here is a scary thought, convalecent homes. Lots of medical equipment, complicated records kept on computer, supplies order via computer these day. Any comment? I think I'll start a thread on this.

Annie O'Dea

-- Annie O'Dea (tarotmaid@yahoo.com), October 16, 1998.

Listen people. What do you think the Pharmacist does with your original Prescription? They are required by law to keep the paper copy. Yes of course he files it. They are carefully filed numerically by your bottle number. All pharmacies can find your Rx w/o a computer. Count on it.

-- Willebord (druggist@homeandhere.edu), February 05, 1999.

Euro came in fine.

Gold price is asleep.

NASDAQ is up 80+% from its low in October.

Travel software worked OK.

D.c. fifteen ring circus still performing.

Few problems with Joan Effect.

What's going on?

-- fly .:. (.@...), February 05, 1999.

Give it time, grasshoppa...give or take a few quarters ;-)

-- Faze the Nation (dazed@confused.com), February 06, 1999.