Exploring the factors affecting the identification standards adoption process in the US healthcare supply chain

The adoption of identification standards and its associated technology in the healthcare supply chain has been slow over the past twenty five years despite the evidence of the benefits that can be achieved. The widespread use of identification standards in the form of barcode labeled medical supplies and medical devices can contribute to the reduction of point of care errors and can increase the efficiency of healthcare supply chain related processes. This paper reports on the findings related to the exploration of the factors affecting the adoption of product and location identification standards. The identification standards adoption process is compared with the adoption of Electronic Health Records EHR and Electronic Data Interchange EDI. The main conclusions from the identification standard´s literature are presented and a conceptual model to explain the identification standards adoption process is proposed. The limitations and implications of current findings are explained followed by a discussion on the integration of these findings with subsequent modeling efforts.