What’s inside:
- Barcodes often fail to capture critical implant data, leading to missed charges and lost reimbursements.
- Multiple barcodes on packaging confuse staff, causing mischarges, incorrect documentation, and billing discrepancies
- The UDI structure includes a fixed Device Identifier (DI) and a changing Production Identifier (PI), making barcode-based tracking unreliable.
- Many implants, including orthopedic screws, sutures, and bulk supplies, lack barcodes, forcing manual entry and increasing errors.
Scan Failures – Barcodes can be damaged, misprinted, or unreadable, disrupting workflows and delaying patient care
Barcodes are fundamentally flawed for hospital supply chain transparency because they lack consistency, completeness, and efficiency, creating data gaps, workflow inefficiencies, and unnecessary burdens on clinical staff. While barcodes were originally designed for retail and manufacturing, they fail to provide the accuracy, automation, and real-time tracking required for hospital inventory management.
1. Continuously Changing Barcodes Create Identification Issues
Hospital inventory systems struggle with barcodes due to UDI (Unique Device Identification) structure, which includes a fixed Device Identifier (DI) and a Production Identifier (PI) that changes with each batch. While the DI remains constant, the PI varies, containing lot numbers, expiration dates, and serial numbers.
As manufacturers update barcode formats to meet UDI regulations, hospital systems relying on barcodes struggle to match new PI values with existing data, leading to misidentification, charge capture errors, and manual workarounds. These inconsistencies disrupt supply chain transparency, making it difficult to maintain accurate records of medical supplies. AI and RFID solve this by capturing all data automatically, ensuring real-time accuracy without barcode dependency.
2. Too Many Barcodes on Packaging Cause Errors
Medical packaging often contains multiple barcodes, confusing nurses and resulting in poor usage reporting. Staff may scan the wrong barcode, leading to incorrect data entry and billing discrepancies. This inconsistency weakens supply chain transparency, as hospitals cannot reliably track and document the correct product details, increasing risks of inventory errors and financial losses.
3. Not All Items Have Barcodes
Many critical surgical items cannot be tagged with barcodes, including staples, sutures, non-sterilized orthopedic implants, and bulk supplies. Without barcode tracking, hospitals must manually enter data, increasing the risk of human error, missing charges, and inefficiencies. This makes barcode-based inventory tracking incomplete and unreliable, ultimately reducing overall supply chain transparency and accuracy.
4. Barcodes Lack Critical Data
Standard barcodes only contain a catalog number, but hospitals require batch numbers, serial numbers, and expiration dates for accurate UDI compliance, billing, and recall management. Without this information, hospitals must rely on manual data entry, increasing errors, slowing down workflows, and reducing supply chain transparency.
Key Missing Data Elements in Barcodes:
- Batch Number (Lot Number): Essential for tracking product recalls and inventory rotation.
Example: A pacemaker wire from a recalled batch is implanted because the hospital’s system only scanned a generic barcode and did not capture the lot number. The hospital remains unaware until the FDA issues a patient safety alert. - Serial Number: Required for tracking high-value medical implants and ensuring accurate patient documentation.
Example: A knee replacement implant is scanned, but because the barcode lacks a serial number, the system cannot link the specific device to the patient’s record. If a defect is discovered, tracking affected patients becomes nearly impossible. - Expiration Date: Essential for preventing the use of expired supplies in surgeries and procedures.
Example: A pre-filled syringe of heparin is scanned before administration, but since the barcode does not contain an expiration date, staff must manually check and enter the information. If overlooked, expired medication could be used, leading to patient harm and compliance violations.
Medical devices and implants used in surgery need to be precisely documented.
5. No Standardized Barcode Structure
The lack of a uniform barcode system forces hospitals to create internal barcode databases, adding complexity and inefficiency. Different manufacturers use varying barcode formats, making automation difficult and leading to manual corrections. Instead of creating seamless supply chain transparency, barcode fragmentation adds work, increases inefficiency, and limits automation potential.
6. ERP Systems Are Not Designed for Barcode Scanning
Most hospital ERP and inventory systems were not built as point-of-use tools for frontline staff. While they manage procurement and supply chain data, they lack intuitive barcode interfaces designed for real-time use in operating rooms, Cath labs, and procedural areas.
Because ERP systems are not integrated into daily clinical workflows, nurses and supply chain staff struggle to navigate them—from initial training to everyday use. Scanning barcodes within these systems is often cumbersome, requiring multiple steps to search, verify, and manually enter missing details. Instead of streamlining workflows, barcode-dependent ERP systems add extra steps, slow down processes, and increase frustration.
A study published in the Journal of Healthcare Information Management found that over 70% of hospital staff reported difficulties using inventory and ERP systems due to complex interfaces and lack of real-time usability at the point of care. This highlights why barcode scanning does not reduce administrative burden—it increases it by forcing frontline teams to work within non-intuitive platforms.
According to the Association for Healthcare Resource & Materials Management (AHRMM), up to 30% of hospital inventory is either expired, lost, or wasted due to tracking failures. Barcodes contribute to these inefficiencies because they rely on manual scanning, increasing the risk of missing documentation and leading to unnecessary supply waste.
Addressing the Cost Concern
Some hospitals may resist moving beyond barcodes due to cost concerns, assuming that barcode-based tracking is a cheaper alternative. However, the reality is that barcodes lead to higher long-term costs through revenue leakage, wasted labor, and compliance risks.
Barcodes seem cheaper upfront but lead to higher operational costs due to missed charge capture, manual work, and increased error rates.
AI & RFID solutions offer long-term ROI by reducing errors, automating workflows, and ensuring 100% charge capture, which helps recover millions in lost revenue annually.
Enhancement: Hospitals should consider a cost-benefit analysis when evaluating inventory tracking systems—investing in automation reduces inefficiencies, saves costs, and ensures better financial performance.
Why AI Vision and RFID Solve These Issues
Instead of relying on barcode-based tracking, IDENTI’s Snap&Go AI Vision technology and RFID tracking provide a fully automated, accurate, and complete inventory management system, ensuring supply chain transparency at every step.
IDENTI’s technology eliminates barcode-related challenges by:
- Capturing full UDI data, including lot numbers, serial numbers, and expiration dates, with no manual input.
- Tracking all inventory, including non-barcoded items such as surgical implants and bulk medical supplies.
- Providing real-time inventory visibility, preventing stockouts and optimizing supply chain decisions.
- Integrating seamlessly with ERP and EHR systems, ensuring accurate and automated data flow without barcode limitations.
Barcodes Are Not the Future of Hospital Inventory Management
Barcode-based tracking is incomplete, inconsistent, and inefficient for hospital inventory management. The need for real-time supply chain transparency, charge capture accuracy, and automation requires hospitals to move beyond barcodes.
AI-powered image capture and RFID technology provide a seamless and automated alternative, ensuring hospitals achieve full visibility, compliance, and financial accuracy—without the risks of barcode scanning.
Hospitals that move beyond barcode dependency will reduce costs, increase efficiency, and improve patient care outcomes while achieving the supply chain transparency needed for modern healthcare operations.
