Last week, I had an extended discussion with Michael Pheney of GS1 US. We were discussing the direction of the GS1 efforts in the United States now that the UDI rule has come out. There has been a flurry of activity, but much of it seems to be headed in a million different directions. I asked Michael for his opinion on this. I am hoping that at some point GS1 US reveals the outlines of their objectives for the coming year.
We are at a significant crossroads in our data standards efforts. We know that these efforts are critical to form the basic infrastructure which ties everything together. At the same time, there is no consensus for the best path forward. We can't really adopt the models used in other industries. There are too many differences between the drivers in a retail or grocery model that do not apply in the healthcare model. We need to figure out how we can get to a similar result by taking a very different road.
There are many people who are quick to point to the studies which say that there are all kinds of opportunities to save money in healthcare. In 1996, the EHCR study pointed to $11 billion in potential savings. A McKinsey study released earlier this year by GS1 also declares billions in potential savings. I think everyone agrees that this is the "answer" we are all seeking.
If we all agree on the results, I guess the search is for the right questions that will lead us to that answer. There are millions of possibilities. We've got to find the right ones that will end up where we want to go.
Over the weekend, the boys were watching a nature show about lions and giraffes. Normally, lions will not go after giraffes because they are vulnerable to killer kicks and the difficulty in climbing up a giraffe's back to get to the vulnerable throat. Scientists were amazed to discover multiple giraffe carcasses and wondered what was wrong. Over the course of the show, they eliminate one theory after another and find a potential explanation. It seems that a certain disease first started affecting giraffes. The weakened giraffes made for easy prey for the lions of the area. Once the lions got a taste for giraffe, they started to attack the healthier survivors and come up with tactics that allow them to slay the previously formidable opponents.
In the same way that the scientists pieced together this explanation, we'll have to dissect our supply chain and figure out how we can best apply the lessons learned in other industries. It will be vital that we do find the right questions that will take us to the desired solutions.
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