Though the year 2000 was still 10 months away, fears of what could happen when all things digital switched over to mark a new millennium had IT experts already starting to panic.

That was especially true at hospitals, where the risk to patient care because of “Y2K” was still unknown. This cover story aimed to quantify the resources being consumed to get hospitals ready. It began: “The dream of an information-powered, integrated delivery system in healthcare is still alive. But in many cases, it's not well. Healthcare organizations everywhere are trying to fight off a computer bug, known as Y2K, that's sapping financial resources and threatening the basic systems that keep a medical institution going.”