The value of standardised product data for Australian Healthcare

Why is there a National Product Catalogue (NPC)?

The need for accurate, up-to-date, consistent and complete data for all products is now a recognised imperative within Healthcare. Quality data from the validated, expert source - the manufacturer or their distribution agent who is the Australian product sponsor - is the key to ensuring accuracy. Automating the sharing of quality data and increased use of data standards via a single source enables consistency and interoperability across systems. By ensuring that all systems are speaking the same language, and removing duplicated effort and data errors across the value chain, the whole of the healthcare system across the supply chain to the patient can be improved.  

The National Product Catalogue (NPC) was developed for the Australian healthcare sector as part of the National eHealth Transition Authority (NeHTA) Supply Chain program to address the need for improvements to product data across Australian healthcare in order to support the increasingly digitised processes. The NPC is hosted on behalf of Australian healthcare by GS1 Australia, with ongoing governance provided via an industry Advisory Group made up of stakeholders from across the sector including government, public and private health, manufacturers, sponsors, distributors and wholesalers of regulated healthcare products.

Comparing use of National Product Catalogue to manual data sharing processes