Colorado Legislative Council Staff

NO FISCAL IMPACT

TITLE:            CONCERNING THE PROVISION OF A STANDARD OF CARE FOR HOSPITAL ENTERPRISES FOR ELECTRONIC COMPUTING DEVICE FAILURES ASSOCIATED WITH THE YEAR 2000 DATE CHANGE.

Summary of Assessment

            The bill establishes the standard of care for hospital enterprises for the failure of electronic computing devices to correctly interpret, produce, calculate, compare, compute, generate, account for, process, or sequence a date that is compatible with the year 2000 date change. A hospital that has made reasonable and timely efforts to identify the potential for such failures will not be liable for such damages if the hospital has taken the following actions:

            a)        inventoried all critical electronic computing devices used by the hospital enterprise that may experience year 2000 failures;

            b)        identified all critical systems necessary to conduct the hospital enterprise’s operations;

            c)        identified the potential for year 2000 failures associated with all critical electronic computing devices in relationship to the purposes of the hospital enterprise;

            d)        prepared and implemented a reasonable remediation plan to reprogram, fix, repair, replace, or otherwise remedy the electronic computing device to avert the potential for a year 2000 failure;

            e)        complied with any and all industry-related regulations or requirements related to the year 2000 date change;

            f)         conducted tests on the hospital enterprise’s critical systems and other electronic computing devices for year 2000 compatibility; and

            g)        developed contingency plans in the event of electronic computing device failures.

            Prior to the filing of any civil action related to a year 2000 failure, the hospital enterprise shall, upon request, provide supporting documentation that summarizes the action it has taken pursuant to items a) through g) above. The bill limits to actual damages a hospital enterprise’s liability for damages in any civil action based upon a year 2000 failure.

            The bill would clarify the liability in civil actions of hospital enterprises that may experience losses relating to year 2000 problems. Civil actions must be commenced within three years after the cause of the action accrues. This would not change the estimated resources required for any state or local governmental agency. Therefore, the bill is assessed as having no fiscal impact.

Departments Contacted

            Personnel        Colorado Commission on Higher Education