GS1 Digital Link for Healthcare

While the rest of the world awaits the GS1 Digital Link Sunrise 2027, a collaboration with GS1 and Google will do much of the same in healthcare. Although it lacks a name, this functionality provides trusted medical data to patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals by scanning Data Matrix barcodes already on medical devices and pharmaceutical products. Google Lens will be used for this new feature.

Google Lens

Scanning the barcode with a smartphone will display important medical product information, including the patient leaflet with usage directions, contraindications, and other critical data.

Google Lens already provides this capability—what’s new is its adoption in healthcare. GS1 is working with pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers to share their product information online.

GS1 Data Matrix

GS1 Data Matrix is the global standard for drug and medical device identification and traceability. This new capability puts important safety and decision-making information in patients’ hands while supporting sustainability by eliminating the printed leaflet — a document folded into a postage-stamp-sized lump.  Although it contains important information, it is often discarded with the open box.  This alone saves about 12 million trees and eliminates significant greenhouse gas emissions.

Sustainability

“The ability to scan a GS1 Data Matrix directly with a smartphone camera is a breakthrough for global healthcare systems,” says Glen Hodgson, Vice President, Healthcare at GS1

. “It means the same trusted standards that underpin medicine identification and traceability will deliver trusted information directly into the hands of those who need it most.”

This new collaboration also supports the important and often-neglected principle that good health and well-being are primarily the patient’s responsibility.

Responsibility where it Belongs

This exciting development is another example of barcode technology’s adaptability, which has continued to evolve and remain relevant for 50 years. At the same time, it is important to note that adaptability and relevance depend on quality. As barcodes gain new and critical functionality, it is increasingly important that they scan correctly.

There is a lot on the line. We can help.