Major Doubts Cast On Researchers Who Say Patient Barcodes Cause “Plethora of Problems”

Okay, I am going to have some fun with some well-meaning magazine’s published articles (by well-meaning “researchers”) that find examples of “how barcodes in patient care scenarios” are “causing” disasters (catch this latest title: Doubts cast on patient barcodes as research finds plethora of problems“) . We’ve blogged on this “barcodes cause problems” misconception in [...]

Chile’s Ministry of Health Requires GS1 Barcode Labels On All Drugs Now

You may have missed this recent story about the government of Chile demanding GS1 barcodes on all drugs, effective this month. This recap below is from the recent GS1 newsletter:

GS1 eCofA?

This news came out in mid-August and we’re wondering if you heard about it and, if so, what you think about it:

Only 1% to 2% of U.S. Hospitals Use the World’s Leading Barcoding Standard?!?

In this tremendous overview piece, freelance writer Paula DeJohn juxtaposes some very revealing stats. According to one of Ms. DeJohn’s sources, Jean Sargent, who is the director of supply chain at University of Kentucky Health Care, only one to two percent of U.S. hospitals have adopted

What Stretches from Albania to Vietnam?

The answer to ‘What stretches from Albania to Vietnam?’ is the list, in alphabetical order, of worldwide GS1 sites. You can go globe trotting via

Here’s a Capitol Idea

This coming October 6th through the 10th, the who’s who of global standards management are planning to meet in Washington, D.C. – well, Tyson’s Corner — to talk about the Global Standards Management Process (GSMP).

GS1 Labeling Compliance in 5 Years, 2 Years . . . How About . . . Tomorrow?

Just before the start of this month, RFID Journal ran a comprehensive news items about the decision of Premier’s management to support GS1 standards and mandate their use among Premier suppliers. You can see the article, which features Premier’s CIO and Senior VP Joe Pleasant, here.
Premier is a major GPO. We applaud the decision. What we might question a [...]

Impetus 2008: A GS1 Label Conference Down Under Coming Up

Have you heard about this Impetus 2008 conference? As far as I can tell, it is the exclusive initiative of

Do GS1 Labels Use ANSI Standards for UOM?

The question in this post headline was recently shared in email by John Roberts, a director at GS1 Healthcare US. He turned it over to obtain an authoritative answer from Steven Rosenberg, Director, Electronic Commerce, GS1 US. Here’s Mr. Rosenberg’s reply:
All ANSI X12 EDI changes become part of the standard…

Big News: GS1 Barcode Data To Be Used In HCIT Communications Backbone Standard

Around this blog, we frequently find ourselves amazed at what is — and, more the norm, what is not — reported about the GS1 initiative in healthcare for GS1 labeling, compliance, etc., by media outlets anywhere.  Here’s huge news no one has reported on

GDSN Project Workgroups Posting

At this SA2 Worldsync Blog there’s a posting of a list they describe as the 2008-2009 GDSN approved projects for the development of the Business Case Documents (BCD) and eventually the business requirements gathering phase. Here is a link to SA2 Worldsync if you want to know more about the organization.

Intra-Hospital Pharmacy ‘Change Hands & Scan’ Model Not Appealing?

I’m writing this post to get your opinion or inside knowledge on this issue: Is it true that intra-hospital pharmacies are not interested in a supply chain workflow where ‘every time a product changes hands it gets scanned.’

Traceability ‘to the actual row on which it was grown.’

The U.S. organic foods industry, as measured by consumer sales, is an almost $18 billion dollar enterprise. Yesterday, one of its major players, the Organic Alliance, Inc., announced its plan to implement the GS1 System to track its produce in order to improve traceability and consumer safety. The full text of the news release is [...]

Who Hangs Out at the GS1 Community Room?

It seems to me that just a few months ago I got a lot of blank stares from people being asked about their progress in adopting GS1. The most common response often seemed to be, “Huh?” But today I decided to check out the list of participating companies in the GS1 ‘Community Room.’ Are you familiar [...]

Why GS1 US Healthcare Should Recommend Only 2D GS1 Barcode Labeling.

Okay, I already know my title question is not  going to happen. GS1 isn’t really in the “barcode as a data container” standards business, they are in the “barcode as a unique pointer to the GDSN database” standards business. I’ve been sitting on versions of this blog post for a couple of months and it was only [...]

The New GS1 Healthcare Newsletter Issue

Today I went to the GS1 Healthcare ‘Library’ section of their web site for the first time. Shame on me for not going sooner. It’s a fairly rich offering. But shame on the forces of marketing that I missed the arrival of their July GS1 Healthcare newsletter. It’s a terrific resource.

Another GPO, Amerinet, Backs Adoption and Implementation of GS1 Barcodes and GS1 Labeling

This news came out about an hour ago. Like we said here in a previous post, others in the U.S. would follow Premier’s announcement of last month. Here’s the lead sentence in the news release:

QR – Is it the Barcode of the Future?

The QR code, or “Quick Response” code, is a small square matrix that stores information — more information than your regular (or linear) barcode. QR codes can store contact information or serve up URLs to mobile content using free reader software, turning your cell phone into an instant bar code scanner, and they can do much more. [...]