A Succinct Paragraph on GS1 Barcode Labels for Patient Safety

In a short blurb published by the Malta Independent Online, may be one of the best summations in recent memory on the value of GS1 barcode labels to patient safety. The author of this brief item, which also includes several of the more startling global stats on patient safety problems, isn’t identified. And, the Malta Independent isn’t the [...]

GS1 Compliant Barcodes: Safety First or Efficiency First? Does it Really Matter?

I think this may be much ado about nothing but we’d be interested in getting your take on it. For anyone who missed it, a major GPO called Premier last week endorsed and mandated GS1 compliance for all medical device providers under contract to Premier. In making the announcement, Premier’s CIO and Senior VP Joe Pleasant [...]

Why is Premier’s GS1 Barcode and GS1 Labeling Endorsement & Mandate Important to You?

Earlier this week, the Premier healthcare alliance issued a very important news release. You can find it by starting on the Premier web site home page, or go directly to their posting of it at this link.  The news is that Premier is endorsing GS1 supply chain standards. Moreover, they announced that GS1 compliance will be required

The GS1 Barcode and GS1 Label Healthcare Provider Tool Kit is Released

Reliable sources tell me there will be more . . . much more . . .  to come. But here’s a start. It is the GS1 Healthcare Provider Tool Kit. It comes at

The SMART 850PLIR Touchless Vacu-Jet Instant and/or Random Print/Apply Labeling System

Sorry, but I couldn’t resist that headline which gives the actual name of a new product. Sounds like a product name developed in committee, wouldn’t you agree? Now before you think we’re hawking other people’s products here, when it comes to label output devices, we’re agnostic. If it prints, we almost certainly already have the printer control [...]

We Got India ‘Ink’ All Over Us

This week we decided to officially launch this blog after months of quietly getting it ready for prime time. With the announcement went any doubts we might have had that GS1 compliant labels is a global topic of worldwide interest and a hot topic. Noted by HISTalk, picked up and run by blogs and hundreds of news [...]

Supply Chain Labeling Scenarios – New White Paper

Our guiding principle for this blog is let’s give everybody one place they can go and get information on what’s going on globally — because it’s actually happening globally — with GS1 labeling in healthcare. Plus, make it fresh, frequent and sometimes even . . . entertaining. Now, we have written a handy new white [...]

Huge News: Premier Healthcare Endorses & Mandates GS1

This just in:

More Specifics on GS1 Healthcare US AHRMM Plans

 GS1 Healthcare US is addressing the contemporary issues involving hospital and healthcare product providers’ adoption of GS1comes from Health Data Management.
It’s time the health care industry adopted supply chain bar code standards that many other industries have long been using, says John Roberts,

Meet Next Week in San Antonio at AHRMM Annual Conference?

I’m going to San Antonio for the AHRMM Annual Conference next week. I anticipate

Are We There Yet? Not by a Mile!

It takes about a millisecond to understand the GS1 label concept and see its global usefulness. But how long does it take a true standard to evolve and be adopted by all?

Another Good Blog On GS1’s Barcodes And Labels

“Is GS1 DataBar something new?”  That’s the title of a post by Mattias Wahlberg. He’s based in Sweden where he specializes in software and business development in the area of auto-id, bar codes, and RFID. He’s been working with WLAN and mobile computers since 1997. And, he’s written a good, practical, handy, and, I think, well-informed post. He [...]

GSMP: What is Your ‘Standard’ of Participation?

The GS1 labeling standard hasn’t and isn’t being created by a secret group of nameless guys in the back room of a warehouse on the outskirts of Chicago or anywhere else. It’s also not the work of seven secret power-hungry conglomerates. It’s being forged by people like you and me. That only makes sense: we’re the ones [...]

Nurses Now ‘Counting’ On Barcoded Sponges and Scanners

Today’s news brings an item about a couple of Massachusetts hospital systems adopting a solution that, according to the news release, utilizes a computerized sponge counting system that consists of individually bar-coded surgical sponges and a portable scanner that enhances traditional manual sponge counts.

GS1 Labeling Implementation Leads to Honors for Supply Chain Excellence

This news  comes complete with case study vignettes from Dillards, Inc., Cadbury Adams, and Proctor & Gamble. They were recently honored as outstanding companies for their strategic thinking and leadership in the implementation of GS1 labeling standards. They call it an award for “collaborative achievement” — the heart of what we’re talking about with GS1 labeling and [...]

You Say Tomahto, I say Tomayto…

A week or so ago we posted an item about GS1, fresh produce tracking – traceability – and the salmonella outbreak in the US. Just to follow up on that a bit, here are a couple of things: The first is this post, entitled “Can B2B E-Commerce save us from Salmonella Outbreaks?”

Supply Chain Excellence Award Goes to GS1 Canada

GS1 Canada was awarded top honors for supply chain excellence earlier this month during the Voluntary Interindustry Commerce Solutions (VICS) Association/UConnect Annual Conference in Dallas, Texas.

New Landmark Policy May Fuel Hospitals’ Interest in GS1 labeling?

In the neighboring state of Massachusetts this week, the Commonwealth announced it will no longer pay for costs associated with certain “serious reportable health-care events” such as wrong-side surgery. The state also will forbid its providers to bill members for such expenses.

Major GS1 Labeling Advocacy Group Combines with HIGPA

Let’s go straight to the news:

More than 100 UK Hospitals Pledge Adherence to GS1 Labeling

GS1 UK, the independent global supply chain standards and solutions organisation, has announced that over 100 hospitals have signed up to its NHS Connecting for Health (NHS CfH) initiative to improve patient safety. Ann Keen MP, parliamentary under secretary for health services, has provided further support to the initiative by recommending the use of GS1 [...]