Traditionally, the healthcare industry has been slow to adopt new technologies; however, this trend has changed due to an increased understanding of how bar code scanning technology can benefit the industry. The healthcare industry is unique from other industries using bar codes in that its primary purpose is not improved inventory control, asset tracking, and data management. While these are real benefits, the ultimate purpose is for patient safety.
As the most widely used and cost effective AIDC solution, healthcare organizations are using bar code scanning systems to advance patient safety from admittance to post care services. With the ability to capture data without human interference, bar code scanning has revolutionized the way hospitals collect information. Now error-prone manual process can be eliminated to improve patient safety, patient care as well as the productivity of medical teams.
Currently, there is a big push to adopt healthcare information technologies (HIT) like bar code scanners to upgrade EHR (Electronic Health Record) systems and other healthcare activities. Government incentives, such as funding provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), are rewarding hospitals and private physicians for investing in these technologies in effort to standardize healthcare processes globally. If these technologies are not implemented, healthcare institutes could face serious financial penalties.