For a small community healthcare system with big responsibilities to its patients, CentraState Healthcare System (CentraState) in Freehold, New Jersey was faced with meeting the same regulatory requirements and business imperatives as any larger healthcare system: patient safety and cost containment, yet without the same level of resources. Being able to automatically and accurately identify products CentraState is using in its OR, while recording them in patient records required by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of National Coordinator (ONC), and needed for knowledgeable patient follow-up, requires a ground-up approach using established GS1 Standards.
Clinical, supply chain, and information system professionals joined together at CentraState to develop processes and protocols for utilizing GS1 Standards. The Global Trade Item Number® (GTIN®) provided the foundational identifier to identify medical devices and other products used by surgical teams—unique identification that the CentraState team needed and is now using to populate its systems used throughout the hospital.
