Data synchronization is a tool that brings consistency of product information to the desktop of everyone in the healthcare supply chain, from catalog clerk through ordering, purchasing, shipping receiving and billing. With data synchronization, industries generate savings in time and money via increasing sales, speeding products to market, improving on-shelf availability, productivity and item maintenance and reducing transportation costs.

Data synchronization is a two-step process. Manufacturers collect and ensure the information in the ordering, inventory and billing systems and other product management systems is consistent throughout the organization. Manufacturer data is then submitted to a central data repository or utility where it is synchronized, audited, verified and distributed to members of the supply chain.

Universal Product Number is a unique product identifier that distinguishes medical/surgical products at each level of packaging. The UPN is assigned by the manufacturer/labeler and represented in both human readable and bar code formats on the product. A term given by the U.S. Department of Defense, the UPN is analogous to the Universal Product Code (UPC) which is widely used in the retail and grocery industries. 

When assigning UPNs, healthcare manufacturers currently choose between one of two standard data structures: either the EAN.UCC (EAN International and Uniform Code Council) System’s Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) or the Health Industry Business Communication Council’s (HIBCC) Supplier Labeling Standard (HIBC-LIC). Although the two formats use different data structures (HIBCC codes are alphanumeric; UCC codes are numeric), they are mutually exclusive, enabling products to be uniquely identified.

The Health Industry Number (HIN) and the Global Location Number (GLN), managed by HIBCC and EAN.UCC respectively, are used in e-commerce to identify particular locations, departments, and/or legal entities within or associated with specific healthcare providers. Like UPNs, HIN and GLNs are unique numbers. They can represent: Functional entities, such as nursing stations; physical entities such as a warehouse or hospital wing; legal entities or trading partners, such as a specific company or supplier.

The United Nations Standard Products and Services Code (UNSPSC) serves as a structure for classifying products. It is an open, global standard taxonomy that allows organizations to consistently classify the products and services they buy and sell. Sanctioned by the United Nations and administered by GS1 US™, the UNSPSC is designed to group similar products together into categories, which is valuable for analysis, organization and searching for and ordering products. Hospitals and suppliers are increasingly adopting the UNSPSC because it is easy to use, free and reduces resource requirements associated with developing, maintaining or supporting any proprietary taxonomy system. There are no license fees or restriction on sharing UNSPSC codes between trading partners. It is analogous to how biologists classify living things (using family, genus, species). Below is an example of how a pen might be classified under the UNSPSC structure:

Segment              44    Office Equipment and Accessories and Supplies

Family                  10    Office machines and their supplies and accessories

                              11    Office and desk accessories

                              12    Office supplies

Class                    15    Mailing supplies

                              16   Desk supplies

                              17   Writing instruments

Commodity         01   Roller-ball pens

UNSPSC does not identify products nor describe them. Instead, it provides a way to categorize a product but not to provide any details regarding specifications or features. Classification is hierarchical. Descriptions are not. In the above example, the manufacturer would provide descriptive information, such as, color, size, type of ink cartridge used, etc., which would be listed separate from the classification.

A Product Data Utility is a system and organization that interconnects trading partners across the supply chain to synchronize core product data to standard specifications. The PDU distributes standardized product data from manufacturers and distributors to data aggregators and end-users. It enables participants to synchronize and maintain accurate product and packaging information in near real time.

In a PDU, manufacturers contribute clean, classified product information to the utility where it is verified and published for all subscribers to access. A health care PDU would provide a central industry resource for standardized product data from manufacturers and distributors and enable all participants to synchronize and maintain accurate item files in near-real time from the manufacturers through the supply chain to the end user.

A unique device identifier system may be used to identify a device and the information associated with that device throughout its lifetime. For example, a UDI could identify which devices are compatible, such as implanted devices being used safely with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems. It is designed to help the FDA quickly identify new risks and work with industry and device users to manage these risks appropriately. A UDI could have broad applications in reducing medical errors, facilitating device recalls, improving medical device adverse event reporting and encouraging cost effectiveness by improving delivery and supply chain efficiency.

The Global Data Synchronization Network is an Internet-based, interconnected network of interoperable data pools and a global registry (the GS1 Global Registry) that enable companies around the globe to exchange standardized and synchronized supply chain data with their trading partners. GDSN assures that data exchanged between trading partners is accurate and compliant with universally supported standards. GDSN consists of trading partners (suppliers and retailers), data pools (services that hold and process trading partner data) and the GS1 Global Registry (a worldwide directory to help the GDSN community locate data sources and manage ongoing synchronization relationships between trading partners).

Sources: CHeS, FDA, GHX, GS1