Throughout the broader healthcare system, the UDI is intended to be the identifier used in the context of business and clinical transactions. For example, in discharge summaries, patients’ records, registries, clinical notes and records, purchase orders, invoices, inventory maintenance/management.

We anticipate that the establishment of an Australian UDI system will benefit consumers, healthcare professionals, researchers, the medical device industry and other regulators.

Identification of medical devices using the UDI system will offer significant benefits throughout the supply chain. These include:

• a reduction in medical and surgical procedural errors by allowing healthcare professionals and others to quickly trace a device and obtain vital information about its characteristics
• the ability for patients and consumers to more easily find information relating to devices, through the Australian UDI Database (AusUDID), the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG) and other similar services and databases
• improved post-market surveillance due to the ability to identify models of devices on a national and global basis
• a more robust and secure global distribution chain
• improved ability for data sharing across regulators and the healthcare industry
• enhanced research and analysis through the uniform documentation of devices in electronic health records, clinical information systems, registries and other data sources.