On 1 September 2015, the 37/2014 (IV.30), the Ministry of Human Resources’ (EMMI) regulation, took effect in Hungary that outlines catering, nutrition and health principles for implementation by mass catering companies and mass caterers when providing food to schools and other institutions.

Between 2015 and 2020, the number of dietary consumers increased sevenfold, and within this, the number of gluten-sensitive consumers increased tenfold. In response, Hungast Group increased the capacity of its dietary kitchens. Also, in order to comply with healthcare and consumer safety criteria, a traceability system needed to be put in place to guarantee 100% accuracy of product data. During implementation, apart from zero failure rate, Hungast had to consider the financial and environmental aspects as well as what tools would be used.

As a postoperative ward, having access to accurate information about a patient’s status is invaluable for relatives. However, to get this information, staff had to call different wards and departments to check, each time an update was needed.

Using GS1 Global Service Relation Numbers (GSRNs) encoded in barcodes on patient wristbands, as well as GS1 Global Location Numbers (GLNs), staff are now able to link accurate location information for each patient to the electronic patient record (EPR). With GS1 standards, details about a patient’s status can be provided in real time, making the right information easily accessible to staff when needed—and to relatives when they call.

For the past 15 years, the hospital has implemented and used GS1 standards to enable the traceability of all medicines for improved patient care and safety.

HIAE has partnered with its suppliers to ensure that all medicines at the single-dosage level are each assigned a unique identifier—specifically the GS1 Global Trade Item Number® (GTIN®), batch/lot number and expiration date, encoded in a GS1 DataMatrix barcode. With GS1 identification in place, the hospital can now scan the barcodes of medicines as they travel from receiving to patient bedsides and to HIAE’s surgical centre, completing an end-to-end traceability system. Information captured with each barcode scan is downloaded into the hospital’s inventory management system and its new electronic medical record (EMR) system. More than 240,000 single-dosage units each month are labelled at suppliers’ manufacturing sites, saving HIAE more than 600 hours and R$13,620 in associated labour costs monthly.

The company wanted a system that would easily scale across its three global regions in response to emerging regulatory requirements.

The company implemented GS1 standards to uniquely identify its medicines at the individual dosage level. These GS1 identifiers were encoded in GS1 DataMatrix barcodes for application on packages. By scanning these barcodes, Hikma can now easily capture information in its IT systems for traceability—from its plants to healthcare providers, and ultimately, to patient bedsides.

One amendment called for the transition from paper-based to electronic leaflets (e-leaflets) for pharmaceuticals and medical devices.

Nearly all pharmaceutical marketing authorisation holders (MAHs) have completed the registration process to link the GS1 Global Trade Item Number® (GTIN®) encoded in the GS1 barcode on the product’s package to the product’s e-leaflet on the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA) website. Healthcare providers and patients can scan a product’s GTIN in the barcode and GS1 Digital Link directs them to product’s e-leaflet on the PMDA website. For medical devices, some of the manufacturers have registered their e-leaflets on the PMDA website. Linking the GTINs is now in progress with the goal to complete the process in two years.

More than ever, doctors and pharmacists need reliable and complete trade item data for increased knowledge about the products they use on patients.

In 2016, Groupement d’Achat Mutualiste (GAM), a French group purchasing organisation (GPO), launched the deployment of the E_GEN platform to automate the exchange of inventory data between its members and their suppliers. Connected to the Global Data Synchronisation Network® (GDSN®), the platform receives up-to-date product and order tracking information (order status, shipping advice and more) to ensure better data quality and greater patient safety.

As a Catholic ministry, FMOLHS provides $39 million yearly in non-reimbursed care and community support for the underprivileged.

Challenged by the rising costs and growing complexity of delivering quality healthcare, FMOLHS needed to improve its operational efficiencies, control costs and remain focused on what mattered most—the safety and care of its patients.

To help drive the digital transformation of its critical processes, FMOLHS took the strategic step to implement GS1 standards. Working closely with its suppliers and GS1 Healthcare US® Initiative solution providers, the health system laid a firm standardsbased foundation that integrated with its softwarebased systems, to manage and control product inventory and location information.

Fresenius Kabi, a global healthcare company, launched an ambitious program to support healthcare providers and become the first in its industry to tag vials of medication using Electronic Product Code-enabled radio frequency identification (EPC/RFID) technology.

The company’s goals: Each container of medication would have an encoded EPC that carries the globally unique product code, unique serial number, expiration date and batch/lot number. The product code would consist of the Global Trade Item Number® (GTIN®) with an embedded National Drug Code (NDC), which identifies the manufacturer. The RFID tags would have to comport with the dielectric properties of the drugs, not impede manufacturing speed, and eventually be brought to scale across the company’s extensive portfolio of pharmaceuticals.

The hospital recognised that human behaviour would be a major challenge when implementing GS1 standards and the necessary change processes.

Radboudumc designed optimal processes, secured systems and connected people, using GS1 standards to uniquely identify medical devices and share valuable data throughout its hospital—from receiving goods to patient use.

But with no digital or automated solution in place, efficiently tracking its extensive asset inventory of 1,470 beds and 37,000 medical devices became a near impossible task.

Given the benefits of RFID (radio frequency identification) in retail to provide accurate stock visibility, the trust opted to introduce passive UHF EPC/RFID tagging as a means to track and trace the high-value equipment in the trust’s medical equipment library.