New rules mandating pharmaceutical bar coding should be completed by the end of the year. Al-though bar coding of drugs has long been considered a panacea for hospital drug errors, automatic identification will also help make the medical supply chain more efficient―an im- portant benefit that has helped sell the concept to drug manufacturers and the healthcare industry. In March 2003, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a proposed regulation from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that will require bar codes on virtually every drug used in hospitals except physician samples, including prescription drugs, over- the-counter drugs packaged for hospitals and vaccines. Medications will use a bar code with an associated National Drug Code (NDC) number to uniquely identify each drug, including its strength and dosage.
展开▼
