The healthcare industry has been one of the last large industries to adopt bar coding as part of an automated data collection (ADC) technology system into the day-to-day operations of facilities. Recently, there has been widespread interest in incorporating bar coding technology into healthcare facilities. This interest is driven not only by pending government regulations on patient safety and privacy, but by other factors as well, such as the increasing shortage of pharmacists and nurses, and the constant desire to cut costs in the healthcare industry. Bar coding technology can address these and many other issues - increasing billing accuracy, tracking patient files, accurately identifying lab specimens, improving supply chain costs - with the backing of a technology that has existed in widespread use for many years.

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