WASHINGTON – Healthcare organizations are moving closer to the adoption of global supply chain standards, according to an independent survey of healthcare providers, group purchasing organizations, device manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors.

The Health Industry Group Purchasing Association's (HIGPA) Committee on eHealth Standards announced the results of the survey on Dec. 3.

The survey, conducted by the University of Arkansas Center for Innovation in Healthcare Logistics and supported by the Association for Healthcare Resource & Materials Management (AHRMM), found that 68 percent of respondents were moving toward adoption of a global data standards system in the next five years, as opposed to only 35 percent who responded affirmatively to the same question in a 2008 survey.
 
"Globally recognized data standards that are created for entity locations are critical to ensuring patient safety and supply chain efficiencies, and to reducing healthcare costs," said HIGPA President Curtis Rooney. "On the eve of the GS1 Global Location Number sunrise date, this survey clearly demonstrates that parties to the healthcare supply chain have made significant progress toward adoption readiness, but also shows that there is still work to be done,"

"Because global standards are imperative for the efficient recall of defective devices and other supplies that can jeopardize patient health, GPOs aggressively worked toward adoption for healthcare provider locations months ahead of the healthcare industry's already ambitious schedule," Rooney added.
 
Key findings of the survey include:
 

• Of those respondents moving toward adoption of a data standards system, 90 percent are moving toward GS1 standards;
• Of respondents moving toward adoption of GS1, 76 percent plan to implement Global Location Numbers (GLNs);
• By the end of 2010, 51 percent of organizations adopting a GS1 plan will implement Global Location Numbers (GLNs).

 
In October, group-purchasing organizations announced industry readiness to adopt standards for healthcare provider locations months ahead of schedule. The 2010 survey shows that other participants in the healthcare supply chain are now also moving closer to adoption.
 
"The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) recognized the importance of adopting standards in electronic health records that result in increased patient safety and efficiencies in the healthcare system," said David Blumenthal, MD, national coordinator for health information technology, in a letter to HIGPA and AHRMM. "ONC understands that collaboration with the public and private sectors in adopting additional or new standards is essential to our process."