Standard Coding Systems of Pharmaceutical Products in Japan and the Proposal of Integrated Coding Table

Abstract

　There are various coding systems for pharmaceutical products in Japan depending on the purpose of use cases such as medical treatments, insurance, dispensing and clinical studies. Therefore these multiple coding systems need to be managed according to the applications in a healthcare information system. In that case, it is necessary to understand the code should be used in what situation and the relationship between each code. That is also important to promote standardization of drug information in the healthcare information systems and to efficiently manage multiple coding systems in hospitals.

　This paper overviews the current major coding systems for pharmaceutical products and their interrelationships. In addition, we propose a new integrated coding table, “GS1 Drug Universal Standard Master (G-DUS Master)”, based on GS1 code. This coding table will help us to manage and operate multiple drug codes efficiently and effectively.