Y2K - Don't Put Your Head In The Sand

Thomas K. Hedge D.D.S., F.A.C.E.
Dental Economics,
November 1998

The millennium 2000 bug has been projected to wreak havoc on society, as we know it. On January 1, 2000 most or all of our systems that run our society have been projected, by some individuals, to fail due to the inability of computer systems to recognize the four digit number making up the number 2000. During the seventy and eighty's the years were abbreviated by the last two digits. This abbreviation saved precious memory when computer memory was a limited commodity. Today, this commodity is no longer limited, but many operating systems are still tied to earlier standards. The correction of this problem is not as simply as it would seem to the average person. Millions of chips embedded in utility control valves, coffee makers, and personal computers, to name but a few, are a major potential problem.

The Y2k problem will present many and various problems for the dental practice. These problems can be broken down into two major categories. Those that we have no, or little control of, and problems that we can investigate and control. There is not much we can do about problems that involve major companies and systems such as banks and utility companies. If one were extremely concerned with these two problems, one could retain a large amount of cash under their pillow and purchase a generator for their home and office. This tactic seems extreme given the fact that many of these problems may never occur.

There are, however, some problems that we can investigate and prepare for. Most dental practices have one or more computers that operate many systems. Most computers sold in the last few years are Y2K compliant. Many, however, are not and most older systems are definitely not compliant.

There is a simple test devised by the Small Business Administration that can tell you if any of your computers are Y2K compliant. The following test was taken from the SBA website and id suggested to determine if a personal computer will roll over to the year 2000 correctly.

Page 9 out of 10 from SBA

The only other piece of critical hardware that a dental practice possesses is the phone system. Many modern phone systems contain time, date, and caller ID features that may involve memory chips that are not Y2K compliant. It would be beneficial to call the manufacturer soon to find out if this will be a problem.

Another potential problem exists with our vendors that supply us. Will the supply company from which your dental supplies come from have a problem with their computer system? A delay in arrival of supplies in our current "just in time" supply delivery systems could have a severe impact on production. We also need to think about how our supplies arrive. Will UPS, FedX, or the post office have a problem? It would be wise to inquire prior to the problem.

Our dental laboratories also deliver their products by means of a courier. Will they have a problem? Many dental laboratories use computer controlled burnout ovens and ceramic pressing machines. These machines are controlled by microprocessors that could potentially have Y2K problems. It would be wise to inquire about these potential problems.

Dental insurance companies also present an interesting problem. Most dental practices deal with hundreds of dental insurance companies. Many dental offices accept the insurance co-payment at the time of service expecting to receive payment within 30 to 45 days. We all know that dental insurance companies will use any tactic to delay payment to the dentist. We have all seen every excuse in the book. Can you imagine the benefit to the dental insurance companies of using the Y2K problem to delay payment. Calling every insurance company to inquire about their ability to deal with the Y2K problem would be an exercise in futility. If you could reach someone that was capable of answering the question, would you trust your answer? The delay of insurance co-payments by two or three months would cripple the cash flow of most dental practices.

I feel that the best response to this problem would be to send a letter to all of your patients explaining the problem. I would ask them to pay for their dentistry in full at the time of service and let the insurance company re-imburse them. This is the only way to insure the future existence of their dental office. This policy should be in effect as of November 1, 1999. Conclude the letter with a statement to the effect of "we want to continue to be your dental practice and would like to thank you for your co-operation".

Y2K should not be a problem that we, as dentists, should have to deal with, but reality will demonstrate that it is inevitable. Lets be prepared as best we can.