What does the future hold for 2-D, 3-D bar coding? 

Healthcare Purchasing News asked key executives at more than a dozen companies that make asset tracking products and technologies about the future of 2-D and 3-D bar coding. The skinny? Not so surprising, bar coding in general has a fairly bright future in myriad ways, they said.

Henry Tenarvitz, Chief [Intellectual Property] IP Officer, Versus Technology Inc., Traverse City, MI

“I have no doubt that bar coding will be around forever. It’s an easy, inexpensive way to track low-cost or high-volume products in the healthcare environment.”

Shlomi Avigdor, Director, Sales & Marketing, LogiTag Systems Ltd., Mamaroneck, NY

“As RFID/RTLS solutions become easier to integrate and deliver more applications – and thus higher savings and efficiency – there would be [fewer] reasons for hospitals to invest in bar code technology. The lower cost of bar codes may be tempting at first, but it delivers little if any savings, and the ROI of RFID/RTLS implantations has been proven in numerous case studies.”

Alicia Torres, Global Practice Leader, Healthcare, Zebra Technologies Corp., Lincolnshire, IL

“A bar code gives a virtual voice to the patient, even when a conversation is not possible. This bar code on the patient’s wristband is also an essential foundation for other applications such as medication administration, CPOE, specimen collection and more. And by expanding bar coding into other areas of the hospital, the healthcare provider will be able to thoroughly deploy different stages of the EHR adoption model. The future of technology in the healthcare industry is moving forward, however, it is still behind many other industries that have fully integrated this technology to track assets and streamline operations. Today, hospitals have yet to standardize 2-D bar codes. This would be the next step to look at in the future.”

Arnold Chazal, CEO, VUEMED Inc., Seattle

“I have not yet come across any 3-D bar codes used in healthcare supply chain. 3-D bar codes are embossed onto the surface of a product – rather than printed on a label – and are used for very specific applications, such as when products must undergo high-temperature and/or chemical treatments. 3-D bar codes are also being developed and considered for some pharmaceuticals tracking as they are able to contain a lot more data than other options. However, considering the specialized nature of the technology and equipment required to use it for tracking, 3-D bar coding is not likely to become widespread. 

“2-D bar codes will probably gain more acceptance, specifically for pharmaceuticals, as the traceability requirements increase worldwide and counterfeit measures are stepped up. I predict that for most medical devices, 1-D/linear bar codes will remain the most commonly used form of bar-coding technology. Such bar codes are designed to contain essential product information including pedigree details, manufacturing site, and so on – basically all of the information required to meet the requirements put forward by the standardization initiatives.

Matt Perkins, Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President, Engineering, Awarepoint Corp., San Diego

“2-D and 3-D bar coding does what it’s good at very well, but it’s not designed to address the growing need for real-time, dynamic tracking, monitoring, documenting and reporting. However, for those hospitals that want to continue using bar coding, it can work in conjunction with RTLS to help hospitals improve workflow. At Awarepoint, we believe that both technologies will continue to grow and our ‘aware360’ solution will continue to provide seamless integration with bar coding applications.”

Jonathan Karl, Director, Sales, CDW Healthcare Solutions,
Vernon Hills, IL

“Based on customer feedback, care providers expect to continue investing in 2-D bar-code scanners and this overall platform through at least 2015, at which point most mid-size and larger hospitals will finish implementing and upgrading their EMR/HIS platforms to take full advantage of the evolution into 2-D, among other reasons. 

We do see more hospitals looking to use SLED (self-scanning light emitting diode) devices to attach to iPhones/iPads and other mobile devices to use within the health systems instead of just purchasing standard bar-code scanners. These devices fit over the Apple or mobile devices like a case and have a bar-code scanner integrated with them. We are seeing a growing demand for these devices and expect them to become very popular in the next two to three years as the drive to further aggregate and reduce the total number of devices that have to be carried by nurse/clinicians increases.”

Fran Dirksmeier, General Manager, Asset Management, GE Global Services, GE Healthcare, Waukesha, WI

“Many of the drivers for broader adoption of 3-D bar coding relate to the infrastructure required to support reading the codes. Printing a 2-D versus 3-D bar code is relatively equivalent, so generating the tags represents a fairly low-cost transition. However, reading a 3-D bar code requires a very different scanner technology than typically deployed for reading 2-D codes. It will take some time for the broader healthcare infrastructure to evolve to a point where 3-D scanning capability is pervasive.”

Marcus Ruark, Vice President, Intelligent InSites Inc., Fargo, ND

“Like any hardware technology over time, RFID and RTLS tags are becoming better, smaller, more accurate and cheaper every year. As RFID and RTLS hardware decrease in price, we expect hospitals will deploy more RFID and RTLS tags, potentially replacing many bar code-based solutions.”

Kurt Mensch, Principal Product Manager, RFID, Intermec Inc., Everett, WA

“Some new initiatives are driving the adoption of more data-rich 2-D bar coding. The FDA’s developing UDI initiative will likely drive equipment suppliers toward 2-D marking of key incoming assets. Hospital integration of these new UDI standards will enable increased unit-level adverse event reporting, improved recall implementation, and tie in well with real-time asset tracking initiatives.  

“Some other key applications, such as data-rich pharmacy bar coding, can integrate with smart infusion pumps to auto-program flow rates in accordance with computerized physician order entry (CPOE), creating new opportunities to eliminate sources of human error. However, there is still significant opportunity for many hospitals to more fully implement conventional 1-D bar code symbologies in areas such as positive patient ID, mobile phlebotomy and bar-code medicine administration (BCMA). Due to an appropriately risk-averse mindset, many point-of-care workers have been reluctant to adopt new technologies. However, that resistance can slow implementation of these proven methodologies to simultaneously improve quality of patient care and increase operating efficiencies.” 

Richard Philippe, president, Logi-D, New York, and Laval, Quebec, Canada

“With the growing recognition of GS1, our industry is finally moving towards data standards, albeit at a relatively slow pace. As adoption of GS1 increases, trading partner exchange of data will also increase. There is no question that this movement will boost the usage of all automated data collection mechanisms. 3-D and 2-D bar coding solutions will likely take on greater importance than one-dimensional versions. As their main benefit is the capacity to carry more data, these solutions will likely be of particular interest in the context of supply chain integration.”

John D’Ambrosio, Senior Manager, Core Team Lead — Supply Automation, Omnicell Inc., Mountain View, CA

“Technology needs differ for the varying workflow and product types throughout a facility. Vendors that can be flexible to provide multiple technologies with an enterprise solution will be well positioned to meet the varying supply chain needs of their customers. The market is moving towards standards such as GS1 and UDI, but it will take time to allow manufacturers to update their systems to meet newly defined labeling requirements.

“Another key element to consider is that information technology (IT) shops are looking to reduce the footprint and associated labor, development and licensing costs it takes to support multiple solution providers. Finding an enterprise supply chain vendor that can provide breadth and flexibility of software/hardware workflow options in an end-to-end solution without adding new IT costs will be the key to success. This type of solution provider simplifies interface requirements and system upgrades along with administrative support within IT and materials management.” 

Adam Peck, Director, Marketing, CenTrak Inc. Newtown, PA

“2-D and 3-D bar codes will continue to be the right choice for many supply chain management applications, but they will not be able to address the accuracy, real-time and feedback loop requirements needed to address much of healthcare’s location ROI potential.”

Tuomo Rutanen, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Business Development, Ekahau Inc., Reston, VA

“Bar codes will continue to have uses and applications in identifying objects and being used as identifiers on items likes medications, consumables, blood, samples, etc.”

Dave Stewart, Director, Healthcare, Honeywell Scanning & Mobility, Fort Mill, SC

“From a technology perspective, we see mobility scanning technology getting smaller and more efficient. We look to new advancements in operating systems (OS) and software features that will make it easier for the high-performance scanning and image capture technologies to be packaged in smaller, more ergonomic devices, designed specifically with healthcare applications in mind.”

Joel Cook, Director, Healthcare Solutions, Stanley Healthcare Solutions/AeroScout, Framingham, MA

“The future of 3-D and 2-D bar coding remains strong. Bar coding is an easy, effective and low cost solution that helps track items, avoid duplication of work, and reduce human error.”

Jon Poshywak, Managing Director, RTLS Workflow Services, TeleTracking, Pittsburgh

“3-D and 2-D bar coding will be used less as passive RFID and active RTLS hardware costs continue to decrease. Passive RFID tags can be purchases for pennies and the hardware required for reading these tags is getting better and less expensive every day. The same thing is true of active RTLS products.”