Few governments say they are satisfied with spending on health care. In fact, some countries are gradually draining their national coffers in the face of increasing health care spending, while others are actively investing huge sums of money to provide health care structures. Whether active or passive, healthcare spending as a percentage of GNP is gradually rising around the world. Although high-tech medical equipment, medicines, and other supplies account for a high proportion of health care spending, hospital administration and day-to-day operations spend almost as much. Regardless of whether governments invest in the health care industry to the maximum extent or limit health care expenditures, there is almost nothing that can be done about the efficient management of hospital work.

Adopting a single, multi-industry, internationally recognized standard can reduce expenses, improve work efficiency, and bring benefits to patients. Also, a single standard can reduce confusion in communications, logistics and supply. Automatic Data Acquisition (ADC), Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Uniform Identification and Coding technologies are all based on the internationally recognized EAN standard. Utilizing the above techniques can help us reduce expenses, improve work efficiency and minimize errors.

The EAN article numbering system is approved by the European Committee for Standardization, which can effectively eliminate the misrepresentation of product information. Such as content, category, size, composition. The application of EAN system makes medical and health care products and services have identification numbers represented by standardized barcodes. This number itself does not carry information, it is actually like a key to enter the door, used to retrieve the data stored in the file in the computer.

The International Article Numbering Association has developed a standard communication system using ENI-EANCOM, which complements the Article Numbering System. Companies can use ENACOM to electronically exchange business data with each other. For example: orders, invoices and delivery documents. This way is connected by EAN-128 code, EAN-128 is a bar code coding system used to manage the whole supply chain, to encode supplementary information like: batch number, production date, system number and many other information, Provides traceability and the necessary tools for the complex logistical management needs of today's healthcare industry.

In addition to strengthening the information transfer between various parts of logistics management, the EAN system can also improve the management efficiency of the hospital through the following ways:

1. Better distribution management (reduce errors, distribute medicines accurately, and improve the enthusiasm of employees);

2. Quality assurance (timely data, traceability of drugs and medical devices;

3. Better clinical diagnosis (accurate identification of patients, provision of correct documents, and rapid access to test conclusions);

4. Enhance customer satisfaction;

5. Productivity and cost improvements and many other benefits.

Thirty countries on all continents of the world have adopted the EAN system to identify prescriptions and medicines. More recently, the United Nations International Regulations for Drugs agreed to adopt the EAN system to accurately and timely track the world's overflow of narcotic drugs.

These enhance the user's awareness of the quality and reliability of the system. Users can fully rely on the International Item Number Association and its member organizations, which are backed by more than 85 countries and regions.

1. EAN system for the health care industry in the Asia-Pacific region

In recent years, the healthcare industry in the Asia Pacific region has benefited greatly from the use of EAN codes. EAN codes are used in the supply chain of the health care industry to identify those drugs that do not require a doctor's prescription; to control the registration of drugs; to track the transportation of drugs, especially the management of drugs; to identify patients and treatment types in hospitals.

Among the EAN members in the Asia-Pacific region, except for Japan, Australia and New Zealand, the others are all new members. This will be a great convenience for the application of EAN codes in the health care industry in the Asia-Pacific region. EAN codes can be used directly, thus avoiding the need for different The problem of converting the coding structure to the EAN system.

EAN codes are used in many areas of the healthcare industry, including medicines sold by prescription, medicines sold without a prescription, all healthcare products, medical supplies, medicine registration, patient monitoring, inventory control, logistics management, and hospitals Administration, etc. EAN codes are used in countless fields, covering almost all areas of the health care industry, from the production and distribution of medicines, to the sale of medicines in retail and health centers, and the dispensing of medicines in hospitals and clinics, and even the treatment of patients.

Most countries in the Asia-Pacific region have used the EAN system in various ways in the health care industry, and most countries use the EAN code for medicines and medical supplies that do not require a doctor's prescription. The adoption of EAN codes by the Thai government on pharmaceutical products is of great significance.

In Malaysia, 38 companies (including the pharmaceutical and medical supplies industries) have jointly responded to Malaysia's EAN organization. The EAN code is printed on the packaging of many over-the-counter medicines. This work will go further into drug registration and healthcare management. A significant number of stores that retail pharmaceuticals and health products have used scanning barcodes to monitor their sales and inventory.

It is very important to use a single criterion and a unified system for the management of health care products and services, which can transmit information quickly and accurately, so that relevant departments can understand the information correctly, thus ensuring timely and appropriate price (lower price) for patients receive appropriate services.

2. Application of EAN system in European pharmaceutical industry

In Europe, in recent years, countries have their own systems for registration and identification of drug codes. Recognizing the importance of unified coding, European countries have begun to harmonize their systems and integrate them into the EAN system. With the development of EDI, there is an urgent need to establish a single system to accurately identify products, locations and services, and then deliver information quickly and accurately. In the United States, some medicines use UPC codes (EAN and UPC are compatible).

Just as most public or private institutions have benefited from the use of EAN systems, large multinational pharmaceutical companies have long used and benefited from EAN codes. But the EAN system is not only limited to multinational pharmaceutical companies, wholesalers and medical equipment manufacturers have joined the ranks of EAN users. The following three institutions are introduced.