Two companies that offer technologies to manage and track medical devices from point of delivery to point of care have announced a new partnership to provide health systems with a seamless and comprehensive technology solution.
 
Champion Healthcare Technologies and VUEMED will offer a single platform that takes advantage of Unique Device Identifiers (UDIs)—codes that must be affixed to all medical devices under U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations.
 
Over the past two years, the FDA has mandated that all implantable devices must be labeled with a unique identifier and a production identifier, which has a lot number or serial number and expiration date. By 2018 most healthcare supplies will have to be compliant with the UDI regulation.
 
The rule applies specifically to the manufacturers of medical devices. To date, many hospitals have been slow in adopting technology to take advantage of the many benefits that UDI presents. This is because they are often unaware of the relatively inexpensive software and data capture devices (barcode scanning or RFID) that could save them millions of dollars through more efficient inventory management and risk mitigation by preventing the use of recalled or expired items on patients.
 
Data from both companies show the ability to fully utilize UDIs offers a range of advantages for healthcare providers. A leader at Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System in Louisiana, a Champion client, claims the accurate tracking of high value devices such as tissue grafts, implants, and other high cost devices used in the operating room avoids waste and patient harm. VUEMED’s client Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston contends UDI-compliant RFID solutions are enabling hospitals and manufacturers to track recalled and expiring devices instantly, achieve optimal par levels due to better predictive analysis, and attain near perfect inventory tracking and stocking at all times.
 
“Both companies are pioneers in UDI compliance—Champion with its history in tissue tracking and implantable devices and VUEMED in a broad range of devices and supplies management,” said Arnold Chazal, the CEO and co-founder of VUEMED. “We have been operating on parallel tracks, with the same vision of bringing global product identification standards to healthcare, as well as clarity and accuracy of data, to achieve greater efficiencies and cost savings. So it is a natural progression for us to come together to provide a more integrated and comprehensive offering.”

“The unified platform will help hospitals more easily make the decision to adopt a single supply tracking solution that addresses all their needs,” added Champion co-founder and CEO Peter I. Casady. “Our UDITracker solution and VUEMED’s ecosystem of RFID-based technologies (VueTrack-RF, VueTrack-UDI, and VueTrack-Mobile solutions) together will be able to track anything from tissue to devices and beyond, even including assets and people. Both our companies share the same vision of a one-stop shop that can handle all tracking and chain-of-custody concerns.”
 
In the next few years, new regulations on Meaningful Use of health information technology will mandate the capturing of UDIs in electronic health records by participating healthcare providers. And UDIs may appear on medical claims forms by 2022, if the FDA and the Medicare program have their way. “Compliance will be a powerful reason to adopt a tracking platform, but the savings hospitals can achieve almost immediately should be incentive enough to act today,” Casady added. “Ultimately, it is the right thing to do for patients.”
 
Champion Healthcare Technologies is a privately held healthcare information technology company and provider of medical device management systems for hospitals.
 
VUEMED is a global healthcare information business dedicated to transforming the healthcare supply chain using RFID and barcode scanning technologies. VUEMED’s suite of products captures point-of-care and clinical inventory transactions data in real time and with the highest accuracy.