In September, the first stage of the Unique Device Identification system went into effect, requiring all class III medical devices to be labeled with a UDI and for device data to be submitted to the Global Unique Device Identifier Database.
The new requirement, issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, seeks to enable the tracking of individual drugs and products through the supply chain, with the hopes of boosting patient safety by knowing exactly what product or drug was given to what patient. Additionally, UDIs are projected to be useful in product recall situations by allowing providers to know exactly where products and drugs are.
While UDIs are being phased into the supply chain over the next seven years, their full potential will only be realized if they are integrated into the healthcare delivery system, largely the EHR, suggests a report from The Brookings Institution.
"The benefits of UDI implementation across the health care system are significant and, while the path to full implementation is complex, there are relatively straightforward steps that can be done now to begin realizing many of them," reads the report.
By incorporating UDIs in the EHR, providers could better manage recalls and conduct medical device safety surveillance, suggests the report. Additionally, doing so could boost identification and communication of device safety concerns, information about the long-term quality of devices, data collection to support value and more accurate and efficient supply chain processes, according to the report.
Here are four more suggestions from Brookings on integrating UDIs into provider systems.
1. Adopt automatic identification and data capture technology to facilitate more efficient UDI capture in clinical settings.
2. Executive leadership of organizations should support a comprehensive strategy to guide the implementation of UDIs in their system.
3. Healthcare organizations should implement pilot studies to analyze use cases and the return on investment for implementing UDIs across the supply chain, clinical and revenue management.
4. Brookings suggests the ONC should include UDIs into Stage 3 meaningful use requirements.
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