Why Bar Code ID is Critical

Bar Code ID: Why Hospitals Need to Be on Board

There will soon come a time when healthcare professionals will strain to remember just how patient and specimen ID were accomplished before the arrival of bar coding.

Before the 1980s, bar coding in healthcare was almost nonexistent. As the public became familiar with bar codes in retail and other markets, witnessing its efficiency and accuracy, healthcare facilities began to follow suit. Now, bar coding has evolved beyond the check-out counter at your local grocery store. In healthcare, bar coding can help to save lives through reduced medical errors-a critical point soon to be discussed.

There are two main factors behind the advent of bar coding in healthcare: 1) The increased use of technology to reduce medical errors and costs, while improving efficiencies. 2) The implementation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).

HIPAA Legislation Underlies Importance of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) in Healthcare

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) was established to provide safeguards on the way healthcare facilities transmit, store, and access protected health information. HIPAA regulations state that healthcare facilities must use a common set of codes for all medical procedures as part of an electronic exchange of information to increase efficiency and reduce medical errors. HIPAA's administrative regulations went into effect April 2003 and they are designed to:

• Improve healthcare administration efficiency by standardizing electronic data interchange (EDI).
  
  
• Protect the confidentiality of patient medical records and other individually identifiable health information using new standards.

WHY COMPLY?

Steep penalties may be imposed for non-compliance with any HIPAA regulations. These include hefty fines, imprisonment, insurance premium increases, and exclusion from Medicare, Medicaid, and other Federal or state health programs. If you fail to meet HIPAA guidelines you put your medical facility at risk. For more information, please see HIPAA's web site: www.hipaa.com.

In compliance with HIPAA regulations, bar code technology plays a key role in its ability to securely and automatically capture data. Automated systems can outperform humans in tasks requiring repetition, movement, concentration, memory retention, and record keeping. The improvement of work flow through automated systems also allows healthcare professionals to focus more of their time on patient care and medication management.

As part of a complete patient identification system, PDC Bar Code Solutions provide a solid automated solution, while complying with HIPAA regulations for streamlined operations and patient confidentiality. In fact, more healthcare facilities use PDC Bar Code Wristbands than any other bar code wristband system in the world. Caregivers use the product to capture data for medication administration, point-of-care-testing (POCT), transfusion verification, specimen collection/tracking, and patient charging. This form of "automatic identification" helps healthcare facilities to streamline processes, reduce labor, save time, and prevent processing errors-a critical measure that can help save patient lives.

Bar Code Technology Help Prevents Misidentification, Which Can Save Lives

When a practice or technology exists that is proven to reduce medical error, it is the shared responsibility of the healthcare community to communicate its efficacy. Results from the VA Medical Center and other medical centers have proven that bar code products used in combination with medical management systems can significantly reduce the frequency of medication errors and enhance patient care.^{1 2}

VA researchers found in a multiple year study an amazing 86.2% reduction in medication errors, including a 75% improvement in errors caused by the wrong medication being administered to a patient, 93% improvement in errors caused by the incorrect administration of dosage to a patient, and a 70% improvement in errors caused when medications scheduled for administration were not given. ³

Correct specimen labeling and accurate patient ID is a major regulation of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) as identified from an August, 2002 press release. The commission's regulations to improve the accuracy of patient ID consist of the following two guidelines:

• Use at least two patient identifiers (neither to be the patient's room number) whenever taking blood samples or administering medications or blood products.
  
  
• Prior to the start of any surgical or invasive procedure, conduct a final verification process, such as a "time out," to confirm the correct patient, procedure and site, using active-not passive-communication techniques.

The importance of positive patient identification (PPI) in reducing medical errors harshly hits home when considering between 44,000 and 98,000 patients die in the United States each year from medically related errors. Even using the lower statistic, medical errors exceed the number of deaths from motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer, or AIDS as the eighth leading cause of death in the U.S. The leading cause of death due to medical errors is caused by patient misidentification, and specimen or medication misidentification-a problem that affects healthcare institutions across the nation.⁴ National publicized cases include the death of 8-year-old Ben Kolb, who died during surgery due to a drug "mix-up," and Willie King, whose wrong leg was amputated during surgery. It is estimated that medical errors result in $17-29 billion dollars in national costs. These include costs for lost income, lost household production, disability, and health care expenses. ⁵

As part of a complete positive patient identification system, PDC Bar Code Solutions can provide a tremendous value-from its impact in improving system productivity, to its importance in potentially saving lives through reduced medical errors. The system helps to ensure that that the "Five Rights of Medication Safety" are achieved, facilitating real-time confirmation of Right Patient, Right Drug, Right Dose, Right Route, and Right Time. For example, if a physician prescribes an overdose of Isodril, a well designed bar-code-enabled point-of-care system (BPOC) will alert the nurse based on the pre-programmed maximum daily dose guidelines before the overdose is administered.

Wristband Security and Non-Transferability are Key

Even the most advanced wristband identification technology is rendered useless if the product becomes lost or, even worse, transferred to another. Healthcare facilities need to ensure that vital patient information stays on the patient. Stressing this concept, the American Hospital Association (AHA) security guidelines call for a "tamperproof, non-transferable identification band…that minimizes the possibility that identifying data can be lost or transferred from one patient to another." ⁶

Designed with security in mind, PDC's Bar Code Wristbands are available in two styles: a tamperproof lanyard snap closure styles and a tamper-evident adhesive closure styles. Both provide maximum security and prevention against transfer.

For information on bar code technology, its critical role in healthcare, and PDC's market-leading bar code products, please view the multiple web pages in this section. For additional information or product samples, please call PDC Customer Care at +32 67 89 56 56 (6:30am - 4:30pm Pacific Time). Or inquire online at Contact PDC.