GS1 US Releases New Data Quality Guideline

GS1 US, a standards organization that fosters industry collaboration to improve supply chain visibility and efficiency, has published a new guideline titled “Guide to Managing and Measuring Data Quality in Healthcare,” which was created to assist the healthcare industry in using complete and accurate product data for internal processes, as well as for sharing data with trading partners.

The new guideline supports collaborative data management among global pharma and medical device stakeholders across the healthcare supply chain, including manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers and providers.

“Within a highly complex and global supply chain, healthcare products are handled by various trading partners—each with its own systems that rely on product information to support supply chain functions such as procurement, inventory, distribution and more," says Angela Fernandez, vice president community engagement, GS1 US. “Data housed in such a variety of source points must be consistent and accurate to be useful and provide safe and efficient patient care.”

In other supply chain news, from November 2023, the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) requires healthcare manufacturers, distributors, providers, and dispensers to exchange the serialized item-level product information that has been collected, standardized, and digitized. According to Tracy Nasarenko, GS1 US’ senior director, community engagement, hitting this deadline hinges on intensive collaboration between manufacturers and their supply chain partners that must begin now. She discusses this in her piece with Pharma Commerce.