iHealthBeat published this interesting feature recently
Healthcare Supply Chain Coalition Hits Milestone
by George Lauer, iHealthBeat Features Editor
The word of the decade in health IT is interoperability. It conjures up images of nurses and doctors using compatible digital languages and technological syntax in diverse systems and organizations all over the country.
The image shouldn't stop there. It should include the people who manufacture and order the materials used in health care -- everything from bandages and bedpans to implants and X-ray machines. And it shouldn't stop at the border. Supply chain interoperability is an international effort.
While the quest for interoperability marches on in legislatures, board rooms, hospitals and doctors' offices, a parallel march is taking place in shipping and receiving.
Last week, the organization leading the campaign, the Healthcare Supply Chain Standards Coalition, announced it has reached a milestone. The Standards Coalition, a collaborative of 30 organizations, is combining its efforts with newly formed GS1 Healthcare US.
GS1 Healthcare is descended from the organization that developed the ubiquitous Universal Product Code, or UPC, used in retail, shipping and manufacturing. GS1, based in Brussels and New Jersey, launched its Healthcare US division earlier this year.
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Global Perspective
Although the legal requirement deals only with the U.S., the Standards Coalition is taking a global perspective.
"This is all happening in concert," Dudas said. "We have been in direct contact with other countries working on the same problems. For the most part, the global health care industry is moving forward in unison. GS1 is the global standard; that's another reason we're aligning ourselves with GS1 Healthcare," Dudas added.
France, Australia and Turkey are particularly active in the effort to establish international supply chain standards in health care, according to Dudas.
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This is an important reminder that part of the E-Health Agenda has to include those basic areas that can contribute to the effectiveness and efficiency of the health system. Moreover I have at least one colleague who, rightly, believes that better logistics can also improve the quality and safety of the care the patient ultimately receives.
Those of us who are focussed more clinically tend to forget the importance of systems that support logistics, human resources, financial management and rostering (among others) in the overall picture.
NEHTA has been active in the supply chain area, however, sadly, their approach here has mirrored what we have seen elsewhere and progress has been slower than might have been desired. At least the GS1 approach is what NEHTA has adopted!
There is money to be saved with proper adoption of these system that can help support other activities and we should be making these savings sooner rather than later.
David.
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