The Health Industry Business Communications Council (HIBCC) is a primary standard-setting and educational organization for healthcare bar coding in the United States.
In collaboration with the standardisation attempts of the international healthcare industry, the council administers and maintains the following standards and services: A board of directors oversees operations and sets policy.
Its primary function is to support electronic communications by developing appropriate standards for information exchange among healthcare trading partners.
Hence companies that use the Heath Industry Bard Code labeling format are in compliance with voluntary standards in the institutional healthcare supply channel.
The Auto-ID/UPN Committee maintains Health Industry Bar Code standards which provide healthcare-specific data structures and labeling options for medical/surgical products and patient care.
The Health Industry Number is a nine-character, alphanumeric identifier assigned to every facility, delivery location and business activity in the healthcare supply chain.
The base Health Industry Number consists of 6 alphanumeric characters (0-9, A-Z) followed by a single modulo 36 check digit.
The Health Industry Number has become an integral component of many supply chain processes, including membership and pricing eligibility.
At present, the Health Industry Number database includes hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, buying groups, pharmacies, manufacturers, distributors – virtually any entity providing service in the healthcare supply chain.