Healthcare News April 2015
Government & Regulatory News
GS1 India builds GLN registry for hospitals
GS1 India and the Indian Insurance Informatic Bureau (IIB) under the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), have signed a MoU early March to develop a National Hospital Registry using GLNs. The Registry will be the trusted source of reliable healthcare information in the country and will be accessible to various stakeholders including healthcare insurance companies, governmental bodies, regulators and beneficiaries. The purpose of the healthcare registry is to:
- Uniquely identify each hospital to avoid duplicity
- Build a single source of reliable, updated and authenticated information on location/contact details, treatments, and costs, etc. This is expected to provide visibility and transparency to treatment costs for validating insurance claims submitted by beneficiaries.
- Enable future tariff fixing of treatments to standardise healthcare costs in the country
- Streamline the health insurance process to speed up insurance claims settlement and handling of fraudulent claims
- Build global visibility of Indian healthcare facilities, services and capabilities for international patients
- Enable interoperability with other GS1 Healthcare registries
- Enable greater analytical and reporting to drive decision making by various stakeholders in the healthcare insurance industry.
New medical devices requirements in The Netherlands
The Dutch Government is working together with local stakeholders on improving the safety of medical devices. The decision was made to base the national implant registry on the existing registries and to link the product to the patient while protecting patient privacy. The introduction of uniform barcoding will have a positive effect for more complete and reliable registration in healthcare institutions. The stakeholders in the Netherlands have stated that they see the GS1 standard as the standard for care. There is also a work group for drugs – the discussed implementation timelines of recommendations should be aligned with the EU requirements: by 2018, include a unique product identifier with a serial number, lot number and expiration date one the secondary level packaging. Requirements for identification at primary level packaging are also being discussed, and will start with high risk medication. This will be adopted in the future (no deadline defined yet).
News from around the world
PATH uses GS1 DataMatrix to track their vaccines
PATH has organised a pilot in Tanzania to determine whether barcodes could be used successfully to track vaccines and provide automated vaccine arrival reports. In the project, Pfizer shipped a vaccine marked to Tanzania with a GS1 DataMatrix. The GS1 DataMatrix included a Global Trade Item Number (GTIN), lot number, and expiration date on the secondary packaging of the vaccine. This was in line with the recent WHO endorsement recommending GS1 barcodes on all packaging levels (except primary packaging) - read Pharmaceuticals & Medical Packaging News article.
Following the positive results, the project will be rolled out further across Tanzania and also possibly to other countries and for other commodities. Additionally other manufacturers have also shipped vaccines with the recommended identification to Tanzania. A technical guideline related to the identification and marking has been published to support implementation.
St. James's Hospital launched eProcurement Whitepaper
St. James's Hospital, Dublin in Ireland, launched their eProcurement Whitepaper titled: 'Achieving World Class Patient Safety and Efficiency in Irish Healthcare'. The whitepaper follows St James’s Hospital (SJH) proof-of-concept (POC) project in conjunction with a number of suppliers to automate the end-to-end ordering process which aim is to replace existing paper based activities.
HSE views GS1 as an important priority
John Swords, Head of Procurement for the HSE, explains how procurement makes a difference to patients and the scope for improving services as reform gathers pace. He states that "The adoption of GS1 coding standards is viewed as a very important priority".
To read the full article from Eolas magazine, click here.
ICCBBA published technical specification recommending GS1
ICCBBA, the standard for the identification, labelling and information processing of human blood, tissue and organ products, just published a technical specification which recommends the use of the GS1 Global Service Relation Number (GSRN) with a locally assigned number to identify Patient ID. The Global Service Relation Number is the GS1 Identification Key used to identify the relationship between an organisation/provider offering services and the recipient of those. ICCBBA and GS1 promote interoperability between the two standards, and Patient ID is a key element for that interoperability.
To read the full document, click here
GS1 Healthcare updates
New video shows impact of GS1 on quality of patient care
A video made available courtesy of GS1 UK demonstrates how GS1 standards in hospitals improve the quality of patient care and help the NHS save time, money and lives.
Watch the video here
Third Party Data Exchange in Healthcare Guide published
This electronic data exchange guide is intended for third party manufactures and Contract Manufacturing Organisations (CMOs) to help them effectively implement serialisation. It provides a consistent framework for how these service providers (CMOs) should for example: implement quality standards, capture and exchange data, serialise products, aggregate them, report these activities, and conduct business with each other in alignment with GS1 standards and/or the specific regulations of the destination countries.
To read the guide, click here
GDSN guide for UDI updated
The GDSN guide for UDI has just been updated and is available on our website: Leveraging GDSN for the FDA Global Unique Device Identifier Database (GUIDID) Implementation Guide
Upcoming events
Global GS1 Healthcare Conference
21-23 April
Mexico City, Mexico
The 27th Global GS1 Healthcare Conference will take place in Mexico City, 21 - 23 April 2015.
Held twice per annum, the Global GS1 Healthcare Conference is a key event for sharing information to the GS1 Healthcare community. Healthcare leaders from private industry and government agencies will present the progress of worldwide efforts to implement GS1 standards that improve patient safety, supply chain security and efficiency.
For more information and to register, click here
RX-360 - Fighting Fakes
2-3 June
Washington, DC
Rx-360 will be hosting a symposium of global thought leaders on the topic of combating the problem of fake medicines.
For more information, click here
UDI 2015 Conference
24-25 June
Baltimore, MD, US
The UDI Conference is THE annual industry gathering for medical device manufacturers, distributors, and hospitals to convene to learn about, and understand, the UDI Regulation and the Global UDI Database (GUDID).
This year's Conference is specifically structured for implantable, life-supporting, and life-sustaining devices and Class II medical devices facing imminent compliance dates, as well as hospitals moving towards incorporating UDI data into existing systems.
GS1 subscribers to receive $100 savings.
To secure your seat at the best price, register by May 24th and enter “GS1G” in the discount field. Team registrations are encouraged. If 2 or more from the same company are planning to attend, contact nicole@clariongroupinc.com to get a discount code.
For more information, download the brochure
To register, click here