Standards in Healthcare

Why Standards Matter

Trading partners in the healthcare supply chain must share numerous, simple and complex pieces of data to support their work. In order to be efficient and effective, healthcare providers and suppliers need to use a common language. Without globally-accepted standards, supply chain partners face high, unnecessary costs due to inaccurate data and supply chain information inefficiencies.

GS1 Standards in Healthcare

To support patient safety and improve supply chain management, a movement has been building in the healthcare supply chain to adopt and implement data and product standards. A growing number of companies, hospitals and healthcare organizations have chosen the GS1 System of standards to help them improve collaboration with their supply chain partners.

The GS1 System is the most widely used supply chain standards system in the world, used in 23 sectors, including healthcare, pharmacy, grocery, foodservice and consumer goods. For over 35 years, the GS1 System has provided globally-accepted identifiers and a common language for the communication of supply chain information about products, services and locations.

Benefits of GS1 Standards

Implementing GS1 standards across the supply chain has allowed organizations across industry sectors to realize process efficiencies and cost savings. The healthcare sector has the opportunity to experience these benefits and more, including:

Strengthening Patient Safety

• Bar codes and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags – automatic identification technologies – reduce medical errors by matching product data to patient data (with patient's consent)
• Traceability along the healthcare supply chain helps ensure that a patient receives the right dosage of the right medication at the right time
• Automatic identification technology ensures the authenticity of pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device products by identifying products, collecting data about them, and entering that data directly into computer systems without human involvement, reducing human error.
• Accurate product identification enables efficient product recalls and withdrawals, protecting patients against potentially harmful products
• Accurate product data contained in item master files reduces data errors that can be transferred into patient and inventory records

Reducing Costs Without Compromising Patient Care

• Adoption of supply chain standards created long-term savings of 15-30% for the retail sector; similar supply chain improvements in Ontario hospitals alone have been estimated at $300 million
• Efficiencies and savings achieved can be reinvested into priority services and programs

Freeing Up Healthcare Professionals

• Reduced focus on paperwork and manual process, enabling more time for frontline patient care
• Minimize need to re-label products, as bar codes accurately and consistently identify items across the supply chain
• Automatic product replenishment enabled by EDI saves time formerly spent manually ordering product, counting stock or filling out requisitions

Eliminating Inaccurate Data - For Good

• Reduction in time and effort wasted through inconsistent and inaccurate data sharing between trading partners
• Healthcare trading partners have access to a centralized source of accurate, standardized product data supporting supply chain and clinical processes.
• Operational efficiencies and cost savings enabled through data integrity

Source: Ontario Hospital Association

Why Now?

Many global healthcare manufacturers recently agreed to adopt the GS1 System as the sole, integrated system of standards. The benefits of the GS1 System of standards have already been proven, with the grocery and chain drug store sectors having realized significant savings and efficiencies following the adoption of the system.

Various governments are also supporting the adoption of global standards. There is an immediate need for standardization across Canada's healthcare system to enable efficiencies, traceability and interoperability. This supports provincial healthcare providers, as many providers are consolidating to Shared Service Organizations to facilitate supply chain efficiencies and interoperability.

Why GS1 Canada?

GS1 Canada’s healthcare strategy, Carenet, will support Canadian healthcare stakeholders every step of the way to ensure the successful implementation of supply chain standards. Standardization will enable improved business processes to protect patients and enhance efficiencies. GS1 Canada members represent all components of the healthcare supply chain, ensuring that decisions on standards are made collaboratively, with realistic strategies for implementation across the healthcare sector.