Budget crunch shuts UCSF pharmacy
Ulysses Torassa
EXAMINER MEDICAL WRITER
May 7, 1999
)1999 San Francisco Examiner

Joint venture with Stanford plans to cut 2,000 jobs in face of deficit

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/archive/1999/05/07/NEWS12408.dtl

UCSF Stanford Health Care's only outpatient pharmacy in The City will close May 28, the victim of the hospital system's financial crisis.

At least 22 jobs will be eliminated by the closure. A half-dozen students at UC-San Francisco's School of Pharmacy will also have to find other places to continue their internships.

It's the second hospital-based pharmacy to close here in recent months. A budget crisis at San Francisco General Hospital led to the shutdown of its satellite pharmacy March 3 and resulted in long lines at its remaining dispensary. ...

[snip]

... Most of the pharmacy's patients are on Medi-Cal, the state insurance program for the poor. ...

[snip]

... Officials say cuts in reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid, expenses from the merger, the need for Y2K computer upgrades, and high drug and supply costs, are to blame for the budget crisis.

See also ...

Same topic ... different paper ... San Jose Mercury News (Silicon Valley) ...

Posted at 1:42 p.m. PDT Friday, May 7, 1999

UCSF-Stanford closes its only pharmacy in SF

http://www.mercurycenter.com/breaking/docs/013178.htm

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- UCSF Stanford Heath Care is closing its only pharmacy in San Francisco to cut costs. ...

[snip -- to end]

No mention of the Y2K connection.

*Sigh*

QUESTIONS ... ???

Do you trust the media to cover the whole Y2K story?

Will more organizations cut jobs and layoff employees due to Y2K (and inter-related) expenditures?

Do these actions qualify as Y2K-related, even though its NOT the code?

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), May 09, 1999

Answers

* * * 19990509

Diane,

Of course it is--or will be--the CODE! When the support systems for services provided by any enterprise begin to meltdown--in phases through the "critical" dates--people will loose their "non-critical" jobs. When medical devices ( e.g., radiology ) fail there is no longer a need for the operators if the equipment cannot be "fixed", replaced or in the budget.

The root and precipating cause IS THE DEFECTIVE CODE, you see?!

Employees have crawled and will continue to crawl ( "let go" ) from the gradual Y2K failures ( they may not always be aware of the _real_ [ Y2K ] cause! ) and raise awareness further.

It's only a matter of time ... get more beans and rice ...

Regards, Bob Mangus < y2kdr@hotmail.com > * * *

-- Robert Mangus (y2kdr@hotmail.com), May 09, 1999.

Yes, Robert.

Looks like an example of a "domino" effect to me.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), May 09, 1999.

Robert Mangus, nice to see you again :^)
I expect to see a trickle, stream, wave, tsunami of medical services/offices closing before/after 1/1/2000. CYA.
Thanks for this interesting article & post, Diane.

xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx

-- Leska (allaha@earthlink.net), May 09, 1999.

Leska,

Thought you'd be interested.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), May 10, 1999.

Bet we'll see more of this, too ...

Vancouver Sun
Last updated: Monday 10 May 1999
NATIONAL NEWS

Panic could be biggest hurdle for year 2000

JENNIFER DITCHBURN

http:// www.vancouversun.com/cgi-bin/newsite.pl?adcode=n-mm&modulename= national%20news&template=national&nkey=vs&filetype=fullstory&file=/ cpfs/national/990509/n050910.html

[snip]

... The pharmaceutical sector in Canada has been meeting to come up with a strategy on the panic factor, based on fears that people will start hoarding prescription and off-the-shelf drugs.

Even cashiers at pharmacies will be on the lookout for customers with large quantities of medication, and doctors are being asked not to write unnecessarily extended prescriptions.

"We will have something in every pharmacy in Canada that . . . gets people to realize that if they hoard they may create a shortage for somebody else," said spokeswoman Noelle-Dominique Willems.

Willems added that people who are planning on stockpiling medication should remember that almost all products have relatively short expiration dates.

Many industries say theyre not planning on stocking up on materials themselves any more than they would during any other holiday period. The real challenge is the public relations strategy: getting the message out to people that there is no need for stockpiling. ...

[snip -- to end]

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), May 10, 1999.