h-trak and Unique Device Identification (UDI)

The Australian Government is creating a database of medical devices called the AusUDID, short for Australian Unique Device Identification (UDI) System. The AusUDID will be a searchable database of medical device identification information, such as the device identifier, device name, manufacturer name and product details.

The AusUDID is the Australian version of the US Food and Drug Administration’s AccessGUDID https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/unique-device-identification-system-udi-system/global-unique-device-identification-database-gudid which has been in place for many years.

Both databases serve as reference catalogues for every medical device in the Healthcare system with a unique device identifier in their respective jurisdictions. The databases do not include production identifiers such as lot/serial number or expiry date.

To fully realise the benefits of the UDI database depends entirely on UDI being integrated into electronic systems that are capable of digitally capturing device information and then sharing that data with relevant hospital systems, such as Electronic Medical Records (EMR), Patient Administration Systems (PAS) and the like.

This is where our flagship product h-trak comes into the picture, providing a ready-made, proven solution to “scan once, use many times”, all based on our Product Master Database with more than 1.2M products and 1.5M UDIs already defined and available for scanning of the manufacturer’s barcode label and instant recognition by our handheld scanning devices.

 

 

h-trak was designed from the outset, 20 years ago, based on the UDI principle and our system will successfully decode the two accepted global barcode standards for medical devices – HIBC and GS1. It immediately identifies the products and collects the production data for each product, the lot/serial number and expiry date.

When products are scanned at the point of care and then recorded in our system, product tracking via lot/serial number is a simple and efficient process, talking no more than minutes to accurately identify all procedures and patients that are affected by a product recall or adverse event. It may be difficult to put a financial value on this type of functionality, but we think it’s priceless.

The AusUDID is expected to be available towards the end of 2023, but in the meantime, we continue to build and maintain our Product Master Database to ensure that our customers always have access to the highest quality data.

It’s one of the things that sets us apart from anyone else in the market and why you can be certain that you gain the maximum benefits from the use of the UDI when you select h-trak.