Dear Valued Subscriber:

GS1 Canada’s Boards and Working Committees continue to work diligently to respond to the needs of Canada’s healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors. Together, with their collaboration and support, we are excited to share progress being made about the ongoing adoption of GS1 standards.

Patient safety and traceability a key theme of the 33^rd Global Healthcare Conference in Bogota

Healthcare stakeholders from around the world gathered in Bogota on April 10-12, 2018 for the GS1 Global Healthcare Conference. With more than 60 sessions for this year, this conference featured case studies and global standards best practices aimed at optimizing and streamlining the healthcare supply chain for the purpose of enhanced patient safety.

Click here to read and watch the presentations from international top healthcare leaders.

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GS1 Canada has a new team member – meet Sandra Couto!

We are excited to welcome Sandra Couto to the GS1 Canada team as Senior Director, Industry Relations Pharmacy. In this role, Sandra will be working closely with the Healthcare Pharmacy sector community to continue supporting the adoption of GS1 standards and the safety and efficiency they assist in once implemented.

Sandra is a licensed pharmacist with an extensive background in the Canadian healthcare and pharmacy sector, including patient care, business development, data management and product training.

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GS1 Canada’s Healthcare Pharmacy sector board joins the Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies (ASOP)

GS1 Canada, through its Healthcare Pharmacy sector board, has become engaged with the Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies (ASOP). ASOP is a nonprofit organization that seeks to protect patient safety globally and ensure patient access to safe and legitimate online pharmacies in accordance with applicable laws.

"Canadians are not immune to the global threat posed by illegal online drug sellers. These criminals know no borders," said Libby Baney, Executive Director of ASOP Global. "That is why it is important to have ASOP Canada's engagement with Canada's pharmacy, healthcare, patient, and government stakeholders to protect Canadians and patients worldwide."

The role of GS1 global standards is critical to supply chain visibility and the detection of counterfeit product.

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TransForm initiates project to track and trace implants in Ontario through REACH program

TransForm Shared Service Organization, representing five hospitals in the Erie St. Clair region, has launched an innovation procurement project through the REACH initiative, administered by the Ontario Centres of Excellence on behalf of the Government of Ontario.

The project will enable the traceability of hip and knee implants performed at Windsor Regional Hospital. This new way of procuring goods and services within the Broader Public Sector (BPS) will enable TransForm to ensure that GS1 global standards are adopted and used to drive the tracking and tracing of the critical implant information from hip and knee replacements.

To help advance the implementation of GS1 global standards and seek advice from early adopters, TransForm presented at the last Healthcare Provider Deployment Committee meeting held at GS1 Canada and has become an active member of the deployment committee.

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Now available: GS1 Standards Implementation Guidance Document for Canadian healthcare providers

The Healthcare Provider Implementation Guidelines provide guidance for the implementation of GS1 standards within common Canadian healthcare business processes for the medical device category.

This document provides high-level steps to incorporate GS1 global standards into the following business processe:

1. New Item Introduction/Item Management
2. Contract Management
3. Order Management

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Global Standards in healthcare offers significant opportunities for solution providers – new material available!

With GS1 standards, healthcare providers are streamlining their activities for greater efficiency, productivity, and analytical insight; ultimately making healthcare environments safer for patients. Solution providers are critical to enabling this vision and are encouraged to remain a strong partner in the movement to the adoption of GS1 standards in healthcare.

Explore the new material on why supporting GS1 standards is important for your business and why solution providers should get involved!

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Help Make a Difference: Join GS1 Canada’s Healthcare Technical Standards Workgroup

Join your healthcare industry peers to participate in the standards development and maintenance process. GS1 Canada’s Healthcare Technical Standards Work Group provides the forum to discuss and identify the healthcare medical devices clinical and business processes that need to be supported by global supply chain standards and best practices.

The Work Group’s mission is to create a forum for Canadian healthcare medical device/surgical sector to provide education on standards, implementation requirements, lessons learned, and to further develop and maintain Canadian healthcare medical device implementation guidelines.

The 2018 guidance documents will be created for the following business processes:

• Inventory Management
• Operation Room Management/Case Costing
• Order Substitution

To learn more about the work group contact Nicole Golestani, Senior Manager Healthcare Implementation.

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