Program Error Halts Hospitals’ Computer Work

WASHINGTON —  About 100 hospitals around the country were forced Tuesday to switch from computers to pen and paper for major bookkeeping functions because a software program could not figure out what day it was.

Officials said there was no permanent loss of data or threat to treatment of patients. But the incident, apparently caused by a mistake in programming, demonstrates how institutions are accepting the risk that major disruptions might occur in the workplace as more and more functions are handed to computers.

The incident affected hospitals that use software and services provided by a Pennsylvania company called Shared Medical Systems Corp. The company stores and processes information for hospitals on its own mainframe computers and provides software that can be used on IBM equipment.

Problems began to appear at numerous hospitals early Tuesday. As calls for help arrived at SMS headquarters, technicians realized a pattern was emerging and advised clients to shut down parts of their computer systems as they searched for the cause.

The problem was traced some hours later to a program that allows hospitals to automate the ordering and reporting of laboratory tests. Due to a fault in the aging software, the machines were unable to accept as valid the date Sept. 19, 1989.