News: Announcements & Press Releases

GS1 Healthcare newsletter: view our latest newsletter

24 April 2013: GS1 Healthcare honored with Way-Paver Award during the unSUMMIT for Bedside Barcoding, becoming the first truly global entity to receive this honor.
Read the full release
19 April 2013: More than 30 Global Healthcare Leaders Endorse GS1 Healthcare
View Press Release and Endorsement Paper
29 October 2012: Latest news from 22nd GS1 Healthcare Conference, including release of McKinsey Healthcare Report.
View the full press release
3 July 2012: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released a proposed rule that most medical devices distributed in the United States carry a unique device identifier, or UDI
View the UDI Rule
27 April 2012: securPharm Pilot project allows the parallel use of two codings: IFA-PPN and GS1-NTIN
Download the full paper
28 February 2012: To address the business need of global supply chain partners faced with the application of national numbers, GS1 Healthcare has developed and approved a new standard creating a GS1 Application Identifier for use with national numbers, the “National Healthcare Reimbursement Number” (NHRN) AI
Download the full paper in English
24 December 2011: In December 2011, EFPIA and GS1 agreed on a Shared Vision, sketched out in the attached joint paper, to provide the healthcare community with a direction on how to best tackle the threat of counterfeit medicines and enhance patient safety by securing the pharmaceutical supply chain.
Download the full paper
20 December 2011: GS1 Healthcare publishes the full White Paper on the use of global standards in Unique Device Identification implementation. It clarifies some questions the industry has raised and provides implementation guidance.
Download the full paper
22 December 2011: GS1 Healthcare publishes the position paper on GS1 DataMatrix implementation
Download the full paper
29 November 2011: GS1 Healthcare publishes the Executive Summary of the White Paper on the use of global standards in Unique Device Identification implementation. It clarifies some questions the industry has raised and provides implementation guidance.
Download the Executive summary
18 January 2011: GS1 Healthcare publishes a white paper on Healthcare supply chain traceability to provide more information to entities considering or planning the implementation of traceability systems
Download the white paper
26 October 2010: GS1 Healthcare celebrates five year anniversary – special edition GS1 Healthcare Newsletter ‘Looking back, moving forward’
View the GS1 Healthcare Newsletter
19 October 2010: GS1 Healthcare launches the Healthcare Provider Advisory Council (HPAC) and invites experts from the global Healthcare provider community to join the advisory council.
View the HPAC Call to Action
16 September 2010: New guideline enables safer delivery control process for plasma derivatives
7 September 2010: EAHP and GS1 team up to advance patient safety in Europe. The European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP) and GS1 have announced today that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate in promoting patient safety.
View full press release
4 August 2010: GS1 and IHTSDO join forces to support safe and efficient patient care - Two complimentary global standards organisations will collaborate to ensure compatibility between their standards and promote adoption
View full press release
17 May 2010: GS1 Healthcare presents its second edition of the Reference Book, a compendium of information on the adoption and implementation of GS1 global Standards in the Healthcare supply chain.
Download the reference book
28 April 2010: - Shortage of supplies, missing medical equipment and misplaced patient records making NHS Nurses' lives a misery. Patient care at risk reveals survey from GS1 UK and Nursing Standard.
View GS1 UK press release.
22 April 2010: US healthcare industry leaders declare "everything is ready" for a successful 2010 GLN Sunrise.
View GS1 Healthcare US news alert.
14 April 2010: EFPIA anti-counterfeit product verification pilot project based on GS1 Standards successfully demonstrated that a product verification system at the point of dispense, based on a two-dimensional data matrix, is both robust and effective.
View EFPIA press release
1 April 2010: India Ministry of Health and Family Welfare publishes GS1 Barcode requirements & User Manuals for all medical supplies procured by MoHFW.
Find out more.
31 March 2010: The GS1 Healthcare Public Policy Work Team submits comments to GHTF UDI Discussion Paper.
View the GS1 Healthcare response.
31 March 2010: - FDA publishes final industry guidance on Standarized Numerical Identifcation for prescription drugs - guidance refers to GS1 Standards.
Find out more.
24 March 2010: GS1 Healthcare launches post-event website – Successful global conference in São Paulo from 16 to 18 March concluded – over 200 participants from 20 countries, over 20 experts sharing their insights on important industry and regulatory developments in automatic identification, traceability and electronic product catalogues.
View the São Paulo post-event website
23 March 2010: Participants of the Global GDSN Healthcare Implementation Initiative share their lessons learned so far and have developed a report to assist all stakeholders to implement GDSN outlining the key tasks necessary to ensure that implementation moves forward with little to no disruptions and explaining the processes and best practices.
View the report
18 March 2010: The Healthcare GLN Work Group announces the availability of the GLN In Healthcare Implementation Guide. This document serves as a general guide for the implementation of GLNs in healthcare. It is intended for companies and their personnel who are responsible for assigning and implementing GLNs within the healthcare supply chain.
Download the Implementation Guide
11 February 2010: Dr. Dirceu Raposo, President ANVISA, Brazilian National Health Vigilance Agency, will open the 16th Global GS1 Healthcare Conference in São Paulo on 16 March 2010. For further details, click here
29 January 2010: GS1 Healthcare welcomes solution providers as user group voting members. As we shift our focus and work efforts towards implementation and adoption activities, we encourage all solution providers to become member of the global user group and help shape the future of Healthcare.
View the announcement
21 January 2010: New GS1 Product Identification Standard - foundational for patient safety and supply chain improvements
View the press release
18 December 2009: New GS1 Standard enables surgical instrument traceability systems, improving patient safety and optimising asset management.
View the press release
23 November 2009: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) of India has announced that all medical supplies procured by the MoHFW will have to comply with GS1 Standards for bar codes as of next year. The MoHFW is responsible for the procurement of drugs, medical devices and other medical supplies for government-run healthcare providers and for various national health programmes, including universal immunisation, tuberculosis control, malaria control and AIDS control.
View the MoHFW announcement
22 November 2009: GS1 Healthcare’s perspective on traceability & serialisation featured in the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing and Packing Sourcer.
View the article
21 November 2009: GS1 UK publishes two new case studies on how NHS members have implemented GS1 standards and solutions.
View Leeds Case Study “Implementing GS1 bar codes and RFID Technology to improve patient safety and increase productivity”
View Leeds Case Study “Successfully piloting RFID technology to track and trace orthopaedic loan kits”
View the list of all GS1 Healthcare UK case studies
13 November 2009: Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust wins European Supply Chain Excellence Award.
View the announcement
12 November 2009: VHA Inc. and 13 of its largest health systems press FDA to include GS1 supply standards in Unique Device Identification regulations.
View the press release
11 November 2009: GS1 Healthcare US publishes success story “EMD Serono Committed to Patient Safety” - Learn how a leading biopharmaceutical manufacturer, EMD Serono, created a robust GS1 standards-based track and trace system capable of handling its entire product line for end-to-end visibility and a more secure supply chain.
View the announcement
9 November 2009: GS1 France releases video on the usage of GS1 Standards in the Traceability Platform of the university hospital CHU Dijon, France
View the video at www.youtube.com/user/GS1Healthcare
6 November 2009: GS1 Sweden supports the EFPIA anti-counterfeiting pilot in Sweden
View the press conference at http://www.youtube.com/user/GS1Healthcare
More information about the pilot: view the EFPIA fact sheet
4 November 2009: GS1 Healthcare Canada issues two position papers
Position statement for Canadian healthcare prepare for global supply chain standards adoption
View the announcement
Position statement for Canadian healthcare service providers: The time for change is now!
View the announcement
28 October 2009: GS1 Healthcare launches YouTube Channel
View GS1 Healthcare videos at www.youtube.comView G/user/GS1Healthcare
28 October 2009: GS1 Healthcare launches LinkedIn Group
Join the GS1 Healthcare LinkedIn group at: www.linkedin.com/e/vgh/2410702/
28 October 2009: GS1 Healthcare announces the release of two Global Product Classification (GPC) Codes to support the immediate implementation of the Global Data Synchronisation Network (GDSN) in healthcare.
View the announcement
6 October 2009: ISMP Canada and Canadian Patient Safety Institute team up with GS1 Canada to advance patient safety in Canada
View the announcement
7 July 2009: GS1 Healthcare welcomes participation from solution providers
View the announcement
2 July 2009: Leading Healthcare Organisations Advance Global Standards to Secure the Healthcare Supply Chain - GS1 global Healthcare user group elects new leadership team to guide the Healthcare sector to standardised solutions for identification and visibility in the healthcare supply chain.
View press release
8 May 2009: The Institute for Safe Medication Practices Canada (ISMP Canada) and the Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CPSI), following broad consultation, jointly endorse the adoption of the GS1 global standard for automated identification (e.g., bar coding) of pharmaceutical products in Canada
View the announcement
7 May 2009: GS1 Healthcare Call for Participation – GDSN Implementation. Join this user-led implementation initiative to take significant steps towards the global use of the Global Data Synchronisation Network (GDSN) for healthcare products.
View the Call for Participation
7 May 2009: The Health Industry Group Purchasing Association (HIGPA) announced its endorsement of the GS1 Industry Timeline Implementation dates for standards adoption throughout the health care supply chain. HIGPA supports the GS1 Global Supply Chain Standards in health care including its Global Trade Item Number (GTIN), Global Location Number (GLN) and the Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN).
View the press release
6 May 2009: GS1 Healthcare presents the first edition of the GS1 Healthcare Reference Book, a compendium of information on global standards in the Healthcare supply chain, adoption initiatives, lessons learnt from implementation projects, regulatory developments and more. Experts from different countries and different backgrounds share their perspectives on, and experiences with, supply chain projects, patient safety initiatives and regulations.
View the GS1 Healthcare Reference Book 2009/2010
28 April 2009: The GS1 Healthcare work team ‘Traceability in Healthcare’ presents the Implementation Guide for the Global Traceability Standard for Healthcare (GTSH), which assists any/all stakeholders in the global healthcare supply chain to implement a traceability system in line with the GS1 Global Traceability Standard for Healthcare (GTSH) utilising the GS1 System of standards.
Download the GTSH Implementation Guide
27 March 2009: The Association for Healthcare Resource & Materials Management (AHRMM) announces their support of the GS1 standards sunrise dates of 2010 for the GS1 Global Location Number (GLN) to standardize location identification and 2012 for the GS1 Global Trade Item Number® (GTIN®) to standardize product identification.
View the press release
23 March 2009: Novation announces its endorsement of the GS1 Global Supply Chain Standards in health care.
View the press release
12 March 2009: EK UNICO endorses GS1 Standards for patient safety and process optimisation. EK UNICO, the largest group purchasing organisation in Germany comprised of 13 university hospitals (including 300 special clinics and more than 240 institutes), strives for cost savings through joint purchasing and optimised purchasing processes. GS1 Standards will enable its eBusiness processes.
View the press release (in German)
3 March 2009: Enabling traceability of medical products from production to patient - The GS1 Global Healthcare User Group has approved a Global Traceability Standard for Healthcare which will ensure maximum interoperability between traceability systems across the healthcare supply chain and across borders.
View the press release
3 February 2009: Thirty-two healthcare providers and members from the Strategic Marketplace Initiative (SMI) announce support for GS1 standards adoption and will work with trading partners to implement GS1 data standards by the publicly announced sunrise dates.
View the press release
10 December 2008: HealthPRO and Medbuy, two of Canada’s most prominent group purchasing organisations (GPOs), confirmed their commitment to driving the adoption of GS1 Standards with their members. For more information about Medbuy and MedAlliance, visit www.medbuy.ca and www.medalliancecanada.ca.
View the press release
20 November 2008: Dutch Federation of University Medical Centre (NFU) chooses GS1 Standards for bar coding. The NFU, comprised of members of the eight Boards of Governors of the university medical centres in the Netherlands, have decided to implement structural improvements, leveraging the international system of GS1 Standards.
View the announcement in English
Vie the announcement in Dutch
20 November 2008: US-based Resource Optimization & Innovation (ROi), the Sisters of Mercy Health System’s (Mercy) supply chain operating division, is taking a landmark step in the healthcare industry by adding specific terms to contract language requiring the use of GS1 Standards in transactions and in production processing.
View the press release
6 November 2008: The Global GDSN Healthcare Pilot Team presents its report on the global GDSN Healthcare pilot successfully completed earlier this year. The pilot clearly demonstrated that the GDSN provides the infrastructure to exchange data between data pools across international borders and facilitates synchronisation across the entire length of the supply chain. GS1 Healthcare and GS1 GDSN, Inc. would like to thank all organisations that have participated in the pilot and contributed to this report.
View the document
10 October 2008: GS1 sets roadmap to state-of-the-art Global Traceability Standard for Healthcare. GS1 commits to facilitate the development by the user community of a Global Traceability Standard for Healthcare (GTSH) as well as a suite of technical standards as an efficient and effective architecture for all Healthcare supply chain stakeholders. A complete suite of standards for global traceability is targeted for mid 2010 enabling compliance with ongoing legislative and regulatory developments worldwide as well as industry business process needs. GS1 recommends all Healthcare stakeholders to building the necessary flexibility and upgradeability while developing traceability solutions, taking the GTSH into account.
Read the full status update
11 September 2008: GHX to become GDSN-certified data pool to accelerate use of GS1 Standards in Healthcare.
Read the full press release from GHX
1 Augustus 2008: Amerinet takes leadership role to standardize healthcare supply chain. Amerinet affirmed its commitment to proactively partner with its customers – both providers and suppliers - to adopt and continue to implement GS1 healthcare standards with a focus on driving costs out of the supply chain.
Read the full press release from Amerinet
21 July 2008: Premier healthcare alliance endorses supply chain standards to enhance patient safety, reduce costs. First healthcare group purchasing organization to require GS1 standards in contracts to identify, track medical devices.
Read the full press release from Premier
10 June 2008: GS1 DataMatrix - an introduction and technical overview of the most advanced GS1 Application Identifiers compliant symbology has been published
View the document
4 June 2008: The Healthcare GTIN Allocation Rules booklet is now available in French and in Spanish
View Healthcare GTIN Allocation Rules for Healthcare in French
View Healthcare GTIN Allocation Rules for Healthcare in Spanish
View Healthcare Allocation Rules for Healthcare in English
26 May 2008: Members of CareNET Services Inc. (CareNET) has voted in favour of aligning with GS1 Canada. Together, the organizations will dedicate collective focus on making Canada’s healthcare system safer and more efficient through the development and implementation of global supply chain standards.
Read the full press release
21 May 2008: To complete its mission of making the healthcare supply chain safer and more efficient through the adoption of global data standards, the Healthcare Supply Chain Standards Coalition (Standards Coalition) is combining its efforts with GS1 Healthcare US™. The Standards Coalition, a collaborative of 30 organizations that represent the entire healthcare supply chain, spent more than a year evaluating standards options before recently endorsing GS1’s standards for organization and product identification as well as its Global Data Synchronization Network® standards.
Read the full press release
20 May 2008: Cenabast, the Supply Center for the Ministry of Health in Chile, will adopt GS1 Standards as part of a new initiative to improve the management and quality of its supply chain. From August 2008 onwards, Cenebast will request GS1 bar codes on pharmaceuticals and medical devices. “Adopting bar coding standards will allow us to improve and integrate processes with our suppliers, distributors and customers. This system also offers improvement in security, cost savings and efficiencies.” Mario Jerez, Director Cenebast, commented that “ this constitutes an important step since it provides a reliable source for product information, a base for traceability of medicines and greatly improve response time. … All this helps us to enhance the efficiency and quality of our management, to perform our work better to meet our customer’s needs”. Roderick Stewart, Business and Marketing Manager GS1 Chile, also expressed the importance of the joint development of this standardization due to the impact that has codification in the health sector for notably enhancing the safety of patients, the increase in the value chain logistics and cost savings.
Read the full press release (in Spanish)
14 February 2008: GS1 Healthcare formally approved
The GS1 EPCglobal HLS Industry Action Group and the GS1 global Healthcare User Group (GS1 HUG) had agreed last year to join forces into one global Healthcare user group. Both groups have now formally approved the GS1 Healthcare Governance Charter and the funding model. The global standards development roadmap has also been integrated and updated.
GS1 Healthcare Governance Charter
GS1 Healthcare Roadmap
GS1 Healthcare What you need to know Fact Sheets
GS1 Healthcare Frequently Asked Questions
8 February 2008: The 2007-2008 Reference Book of the International Hospital Federation features a Special Report about "Global Standards and patient safety", including articles about GS1, the New Zealand Medication Safety Project, the UK Department of Health 'Coding for Health', bedside bar code scanning at Brigham & Women’s Hospital (Boston, US) and the traceability project at Dijon University Hospital (France)."
IHF Reference Book 2007/2008
Special Report: Global standards and patient safety
14 January 2008: 70 UK hospitals to use GS1 System Thanks to GS1 UK's work with the NHS Connecting for Health initiative, 70 hospitals are to begin using GS1 System of standards to improve patient safety. Read the full press release
19 November 2007: Michigan State University School of Packaging has developed "The Case for Global Data Standards in the Healthcare Supply Chain" for the GS1 global Healthcare User Group.
2 November 2007: Healthcare Supply Chain Standards Coalition (HSCSC) endorses GLN and GTIN, recommends GDSN Press release issued 10/22/07
12 September 2007: New Zealand Ministry of Health announces Medication Safety Project.
4 September 2007: GS1 Healthcare and ICCBBA join forces to advance global standards to improve patient safety. View full press release.
13 August 2007: GS1’s global eMessaging standard GS1 XML has been endorsed by the National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) as the document format for Australia’s health eProcurement strategy. View full press release.
20 July 2007: This film shows a case of a tragic medical error in New Zealand. Today New Zealand is introducing barcoding in hospitals (report 1 / report 2) to ensure patient safety. Follow up actions from the NZ Health Ministry.
13 June 2007: GS1 and HL7 join forces to develop global standards to improve Patient Care. View full press release.
12 June 2007: The 7th HUG Conference took place in Orlando (US) from 6 - 8 June 2007. View conference details.
24 April 2007: The HUG was mentioned in a recent article in the Australian magazine MHD Supply Chain Solutions entitled "A HUG to help you". Click here to read the article.
13 April 2007: First meeting of the HUG France to take place 31 May 2007. Find out more about Local HUGs
02 April 2007: The Council of Europe’s Expert Group on Safe Medication Practices makes a strong recommendation to use the GS1 System. Download the full report.
22 March 2007: IHF joins GS1 effort to improve patient safety through global supply chain standards. View full press release.
21 March 2007: The UK Department of Health have issued guidelines saying they support GS1 standards. Read the guidelines.
07 February 2007: The 6th HUG Conference took place in Berlin (Germany) from 30 January - 1 February 2007. View presentations.
29 January 2007: The HUG was mentioned in a recent article in the German journal Management & Krankenhaus entitled "Richtiger Patient, richtiges Produkt, richtige Dosierung (Right Patient, Right Product, Right Dose)". Click here to read the article.
03 January 2007: The HUG was mentioned in a recent article in Pharmaceutical & Medical Packaging News entitled "Unique Identifiers for Medical Devices". Click here to read the article.
28 September 2006: The 5th HUG Conference took place in Elancourt (France) from 20 - 22 September 2006. View meeting summary.
07 September 2006: HUG members attend Eucomed ETF meeting in Brussels.
22 August 2006: After one year of successful operation, the Global Healthcare User Group has officially announced that it will use GS1 standards exclusively as the basis for its automatic product identification developments. View full press release.
26 July 2006: HUG Leadership Team members and Eucomed ETF members meet with the Department of Health in London
04 July 2006: The HUG was described in detail in a recent article in Pharmaceutical & Medical Packaging News entitled "Striving toward a global code". Click here to read the article.
21 June 2006: The 4th HUG Conference took place in Minneapolis (US) from 13 - 15 June 2006. View meeting summary.
05 April 2006: HUG members attend Eucomed ETF meeting in Brussels.
27 March 2006: The 3rd HUG conference took place in Rome (Italy) from 21 - 23 March 2006. View meeting summary.
05 December 2005: The 2nd HUG meeting took place in Princeton (US) from 29 November - 1 December 2005. View meeting summary.
18 November 2005: Patient safety is the focus of the healthcare industry and regulatory bodies. The second meeting of the GS1 global Healthcare User Group (HUG) focused on gaining an understanding of global regulatory requirements regarding patient safety as well as reporting progress the group has made since the kick-off meeting in May. View full press release.
28 September 2005: Two industry co-chairs were elected by the HUG Leadership Team: Rich Hollander, Pfizer (a USA pharmaceutical company) and Volker Zeiner, B.Braun (a European Device company) will represent the HUG group towards third parties.
16 September 2005: The 1st meeting of the HUG took place in Brussels from 13 - 15 September 2005. View meeting summary.
18 July 2005: Healthcare industry works together to improve patient safety. Leading global companies from the pharmaceutical and medical device industry have formed a GS1 global Healthcare User Group (HUG). Its objective is to lead the utilisation and development of global standards for the healthcare industry, with the primary focus on automatic product identification to improve patient safety. View full press release.