IDN Blog: Fall 2016 IDN Summit

Health Systems everywhere feel the electricity in the air bringing extraordinary change to the way we use our systems, applications and interfaces to improve patient safety, accuracy, efficiency, and costs. Health Systems can do more, better with less while improving technology, processes, and satisfaction.

Data Standards with consistent interoperability is most cost effective because it replaces duplication of work, time and motion with electronic distribution of valuable information instantaneously to multiple systems and applications. Manufacturers have been sending their product attributes to the GDSN and or GUDID for many years in anticipation of Healthcare Providers using the attributes to populate ERP, EHR and EMR to transact directly with them, with patients, with payers and with registries.

In the Supply Chain, data standards and interoperability can expedite the ordering process, increase inventory replenishment, reduce order error and delays, and ensure the right product gets to the right location at the right time. Global Location Numbers (GLN) can identify delivery points down to the PAR location in a hospital or clinic. Global Trade Item Numbers (GTIN) reduce the need for multiple unique product identification numbers for the same product in multiple systems, reducing production time expended updating multiple systems to meet the requirements of the multiple applications unique nomenclatures.

Developing an effective Enterprise-wide Scanning Strategy for your Health System to complement the data standards & interoperability practices gives you the tools and processes needed to remove errors, delays, and missed reimbursement opportunities. The opportunity for scanning versus manual data entry is everywhere, the dock, the delivery location, the point of use, the employee badge, the patient’s room, the OR, the ED, the Cath Lab, Radiology, the Blood Bank, the Tissue Bank, procedural rooms, and more.

There is confidence in knowing the GTIN identifies the item by the original, registered number assigned by the manufacturer and in some cases registered with the FDA and other regulatory bodies. Just knowing that one scan can collect all the needed attributes at once and make them available to all other systems to parse and store in a patients record, an inventory management system, a medical record, a submission for reimbursement and more, is of great value. Imagine an algorithm that instantly updates a Physician’s Preference Card based on repetitive use; a multi-directional, multi-product, multiple barcode type (1D/2D, laser, linear) scanner that reads all products brought into an OR, ED, or patient room built to store serial numbers, lot numbers, expiration dates, manufacturer dates and more used in a patient case, and all the unused items are removed when you exit the room and returned to your inventory. Patient billing, reimbursement, prompt and accurate payments are immeasurable. No waiting to assign another number for the same product that ultimately delays payment to your health system.

Our future in healthcare is beyond what we could have imagined 10 years ago, 5 years ago, even 2 years ago. Some of these philosophies are in place in other industries today, some are on the front of the minds of innovative thinkers, and some are yet to be realized. The obvious question I hear frequently is, “What will this cost?” As healthcare technology continues to evolve, lengthy processes are replaced with a single scan, and all the information needed to satisfy a patient’s needs, a physician’s needs and every aspect of a Healthcare System’s needs, will be gathered, stored, retrieved, transmitted and analyzed; it will cost far less to advance your technology than to continue to pay for perpetually manually updating systems and applications and correcting errors and omissions. Let’s get it right the first with a single scan.

The opportunities are limitless; and through sharing ideas and embracing innovation we will build a better healthcare system in America.

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