Siemens publishes GS1 Global Trade Item Numbers in GHX Health ConneXion data pool

In an effort to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the healthcare supply chain, Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics (Siemens) has published product data including GS1 Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs) for its entire U.S. product line into the GHX Health ConneXion(SM) data pool. GHX Health ConneXion is the only data pool certified by GS1's Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN®) that is focused solely on healthcare. Authorized subscribers to the GDSN can now access product data standardized with GTINs for Siemens reagents and consumables that can be purchased via EDI in the U.S. Siemens and GHX are also actively working to publish GTINs for additional Siemens product lines in Australia and Europe.

Global healthcare suppliers are faced with numerous regulatory and market-driven requirements to publish product item data for a variety of purposes, including increased product visibility for improved patient safety, electronic transactions, contract compliance and reporting. For eight years, Siemens has published its product catalog to the GHX AllSource® content repository to facilitate e-commerce with its customers. By expanding its partnership with GHX through membership in the GHX Health ConneXion data pool, Siemens can now leverage its existing connectivity to GHX to provide customers and other trading partners with a single source of accurate and timely product information to meet both market-driven sunrise dates for the use of global data standards, and emerging regulatory initiatives, such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) requirement to assign unique device identifiers (UDIs) to products.  

"We have already established the necessary processes to publish product data to GHX through our work with AllSource. Therefore, participation in the GHX Health ConneXion data pool offers the most efficient means for us to provide our customers with data for additional purposes such as the GDSN and the pending UDI database," said Dietmar Hein, Head of Global e-Commerce for Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics. "Furthermore, because GHX is a trusted partner that is well established in the global healthcare community, we can be confident that our data and our customers' data are secure."  

"Siemens' participation in the GHX Health ConneXion data pool represents a significant step in the healthcare industry's overall movement toward global standards adoption because the data that they have published is now available to all authorized organizations belonging to a GDSN-certified data pool," said Bruce Johnson, CEO of GHX. "As our data pool grows with the addition of new provider and supplier members, so too does the momentum of the industry toward a more efficient, cost-effective and secure supply chain."