Guidance Supports Cross-Industry Collaboration for Improved Interoperability
EWING, NJ – July 28, 2021 – GS1 US has published a new guideline, “Best Practice Guide for Sharing Vital Attributes in Healthcare,” to help healthcare trading partners share data about medical devices or pharmaceutical products.
The guideline is a resource for healthcare professionals charged with master data management, procurement, regulatory compliance and data governance. Developed by members of the GS1 Healthcare US Initiative in collaboration with the Healthcare Supply Chain Association (HSCA), the document offers best practices for the synchronization of product attributes such as definitions and formatting for brand name and product description. It includes recommendations for meeting five elements of “trusted data” – accurate, complete, timely, consistent and synchronized – which are needed to support efficient data exchange for basic healthcare supply chain processes such as product identification, order-to-cash and traceability.
“When healthcare stakeholders collaborate using global data standards, their ability to trust and seamlessly synchronize shared data will improve,” said Angela Fernandez, vice president of community engagement, GS1 US. “Alignment on attributes has a beneficial ripple effect, positively impacting data accuracy, efficiency and interoperability – all leading to improved healthcare operations and patient care.”
This guideline also covers data recommendations for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) enabling pharmaceutical traceability and Unique Device Identification Rule (UDI) requirements for medical device traceability.
For more information about GS1 US, the guideline and additional data quality healthcare resources, visit www.gs1us.org.
About GS1 US:
GS1 US®, a member of GS1 global, is a not-for-profit information standards organization that facilitates industry collaboration to help improve supply chain visibility and efficiency through the use of GS1 Standards, the most widely used supply chain standards system in the world. Nearly 300,000 businesses in 25 industries rely on GS1 US for trading partner collaboration that optimizes their supply chains, drives cost performance and revenue growth, while also enabling regulatory compliance. They achieve these benefits through solutions based on GS1 global unique numbering and identification systems, barcodes, Electronic Product Code (EPC®)-based RFID, data synchronization and electronic information exchange. GS1 US also manages the United Nations Standard Products and Services Code® (UNSPSC®). For more information, please visit www.gs1us.org.