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packaging unit, sell packaging unit and bale packaging unit. The notice also
requires manufacturers to provide serial number manufacturing codes, quantity,
and expiration date on the barcode.
The JAN (Japanese Article Numbering) (The Distribution Systems Research
Institute 2012 ) code is the product identification code of the Japanese Industrial
Standards; it is designed to be compatible with EAN (European Article Number) of
GS1. GS1 (Global Standard One) is a global organization dedicated to the design
and implementation of global standards of supply and demand chain. The number
of the packaging type and the JAN code together make up the product code of the
ethical drug. The information level on a dosage packaging unit is necessary to
ensure the proper medical treatment at the end point of accountability. “GS1 RSS
(Reduced Space Symbology, recently renamed as “DataBar”.) limited composition
symbol CC-A” and “RSS-14 stack composition symbol CC-A” should be used.
As of 2010, the product code of the sale packaging unit is displayed on more than
99 % of medical supplies. However, as for the manufacturing number or the
manufacturing code, only a specific biogenous product is 100 % (Ministry of Health
Labour and Welfare Health Policy Bureau Economic Affairs Division 2012 ). The
degree of labeling on other medical supplies is still low; the environment for
traceability in the medical field is still developing. Neither barcodes nor RFID
(Radio Frequency Identification) are completely adequate for labeling purposes at
the moment; it is necessary to build a system that supports both barcodes and
RFIDs.
6.2.2 Healthcare Management
The medical treatment system in Japan has traditionally used fee-for-service
payments, but recently the payment method has been shifting to the prospective
payment system. MHLW introduced the DPC (Diagnosis Procedure Combination)
(Okamura et al. 2005 ) in 2003. While the DRG/PPS system is a “per-case payment”
system, the DPC is “per-day payment”; it is generally believed that there is an
incentive in shortening the average length of stay (LOS) to reduce medical
expenses. When part of the medical treatment is fixed, controlling medical costs
becomes the most important task for healthcare.
It is common that the business analysis in hospitals distributes and assesses the
cost of ethical drugs based on the billing information of each patient and on a
departmental basis. The practitioners enter the orders, and these orders are trans-
ferred to the medical business department to gather the claim information and
generate the medical care claims bills.
The billing transaction process in Japan was computerized in 1999. However,
the current ordering system merely records the history of ordering and dispensing
medications, allows administrative checking, and converts the transaction informa-
tion to billing claims. The billing rules are so complex that the medical treatments
and the billings do not have a one-to-one relation. The billing does not reflect the
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