VHA Asks FDA for Speedy UDI Decision; Inclusion of Only GS1 Standards as Single Mandatory Solution

This news comes from Healthcare Purchasing News:  VHA Inc. and 13 of its largest health system members have sent a letter to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration requesting prompt issuance of Unique Device Identification (UDI) regulations, and that those regulations include  GS1 supply chain standards. At this link, you can see the full release direct [...]

Bedside Barcodes Help, But Nurses Mobilize to End Distractions, Too

According to Joanne Mette, chief nursing officer at Kaiser Permanente in Hayward and Fremont [California] . . . nurses can be interrupted five to 10 times in the course of giving one medication.  Her story, and that of other San Francisco bay area hospitals  attempting to reduce medication errors is featured in this San Francisco [...]

GS1 Healthcare US Releases Two New Guidelines for Healthcare Providers and Suppliers

The GS1 Healthcare US Product Identification Workgroup has completed, and is releasing, two new guidelines for implementing GS1 standards in the hospital.  

VA’s ‘Digital Overhaul’ Offers Model of Benefits from Standardized ID-based Patient Services

If you want a glimpse into how the application of patient, medical record, and treatment applications, outcomes and costs can be improved everywhere and for all by a  set of national digital healthcare standards,  

Another Example of Why We Need GS1 and Patient Bedside Barcoding Now!

Okay, yet another example of how bedside medication and barcodes is clearly needed in every hospital now! This recent article includes a brief mention of how  the Veterans Affairs health system implements bedside barcoding:

Oracle, Healthcare, GS1 Germany, the Upcoming OpenWorld Panel and a Request

I’ll be at the upcoming Oracle OpenWorld event starting October 12th in San Francisco. Loftware will have a booth (3108) and I will be participating on an important panel with Oracle, the FDA and GS1 that will spotlight healthcare applications with a special emphasis on supply chain safety and standards.  

The High Cost and Investment Risk of Proprietary HCIT Solutions

David Pogue of The New York Times has written this interesting and positive story entitled, “Charting a New Course,”  

Pharmacists’ Professional Society Offers Barcode Problem Reporting Center

If you’re not familiar with the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) — and especially if you are a pharmacist — you may want to check them out.

Emerging Markets a Key to Drug Infusion Pump Manufacturers’ Growth – And More GS1 Labeling

‘Global Drug Infusion Pumps Market 2008-2012′ is a new research study that’s being made available via companiesandmarkets.com.  

Bedside Barcoding Not Immune to Human Error If Mis-Coded

Many of us see a lot of promise in the future of patient bedside barcoding. There’s no question it will prevent a lot of medication errors

GS1 Healthcare US Presenting Aug. 25th Web Seminar on Basics

Improving Patient Safety and Supply Chain Efficiency with Data Standards: The Basics of GS1 Standards in Healthcare is the name of an upcoming web seminar to be offered on August 25th

Who Will Ultimately Own the Partient Barcode ID?

There have been a number of stories of late about innovative hospitals turning to bedside barcoding systems and on-site electronic medical records. That’s a good thing as far as it goes. But if I’m in, let’s say, Vermont and I travel to Boston for a Red Sox game and have a coronary event in the [...]

Wristband Barcodes Drive Midland Memorial’s E-Medical Records

Lots of people don’t necessarily understand why it should be so hard and so expensive to initiate an electronic medical records system.

Bedside Barcoding Continues to Get More Mainstream Media Attention

The groundswell that will become the tsunami continues. NBC’s WVIR-TV affiliate in Virginia has joined a growing number of mainstream media reports of late noting the benefits of bedside barcoding. In this instance, the spotlight is on Martha Jefferson Hospital. In the report, NBC says: It is one of 25 hospitals in the country to [...]

GDSN-Certified Data Pool Selected by Novation

Novation has become the first group purchasing organization (GPO) to

Bedside Barcode Adoption Resistance: What Happens When The Public Finds Out?

This is a follow-up to a post I published the other day about Mark Neuenschwander’s outstanding presentation at the recent GS1 Healthcare Conference in Washington, DC, where he spoke at length about bedside barcode technology benefits. Mark didn’t specifically use the expression ‘market pull,’ but that is what he was talking about at one point when he said [...]

GS1 Healthcare Blood Derivatives Work Group Spotlighting Relabeling Dangers

This is to bring to your attention a GSMP (Global

Global GS1 Healthcare Conference Videos Are Now Available

The Global GS1 Healthcare conference held in Washington last month is now available as streaming videos from GS1. The list of plenary sessions is available here. That said, Mark Neuenschwander’s must-see presentation on bedside barcoding is here.

GS1 Canada and GHX in Alliance to Create Healthcare Products Registry

This comes from a long news release, but the important message is pretty straightforward: GS1 Canada and GHX have agreed to form a strategic alliance to create a global standards-based product registry for healthcare products.

Spotlight On GS1 Global Healthcare Meeting Last Week: Barcodes At Bedside Now!!!

While some of last week’s GS1 Healthcare Conference in Washington, D.C., was, in many respects, a compendium of earlier GS1 meetings, pretty much all of  it was solid and more than worth the time to attend (or view the webcast). Of special note to me was Mark Neuenschwander’s out-standing presentation on barcode efficacy, power and [...]