VIable

NDHI
NAT IONAL DIALOGUE FOR
Healthcare Innovation
Implementation of a
Comprehensive Product
Tracking System
Organization Overview
• Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System
(FMOLHS) is the largest health system in Louisiana,
with five hospitals and over 2,000 active medical
staff members
• FMOLHS is the leading healthcare innovator in
Louisiana, committed to transforming healthcare
through superior performance and excellent
patient care
Background
Healthcare lags dramatically behind other industries
in the implementation of product tracking standards.
Unique product identifiers, such as barcodes, have
been used to manage product inventory in retail settings
since the 1970s. However, medical products that
are used in a hospital setting have historically lacked
these unique identifiers.
Recent FDA regulations requiring unique device identification
(UDI) and CMS’s “Meaningful Use” criteria
for reimbursement have accelerated the implementation
of basic product tracking systems in hospitals.
As a foundation, medical product manufacturers
are now required to mark products with UDIs. Over
time, the FDA will require health systems to track an
increasing number of product categories using these
unique identifiers.
While some healthcare systems have started to implement
their own tracking systems for certain types of
products, their solutions may fail to record unique
product details or leave significant gaps in data collection.
Moreover, this data is often not interoperable
between health systems; some solutions even lack
interoperability between the system’s own sites of care.
As an innovator in healthcare delivery, FMOLHS is
using the regulatory requirements as a springboard for
the development of an enterprise-wide, comprehensive
product tracking strategy. FMOLHS’s vision is to
create an automatic identification and data capture
(AIDC) system to capture data for all products used
in every episode of care, from a simple check-up to a
device implant.
Initiative Details
To implement its comprehensive product track-andtrace
system, FMOLHS has:
• Participated in a collaborative pilot program with
manufacturers, software partners, health systems,
and other agencies to create a joint solution for
implementing GS1 US Data Standards and the
Perfect Order for all healthcare supply chains
––
Created the FMOLHS-GS1 US Data Standards
Master Process Implementation Plan © , which
serves as the system’s own implementation
plan, but is also available to health systems
around the United States
An Initiative of the
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Implementation of a Comprehensive Product Tracking System