Thanks to RFID Journal, I was alerted to this news about an upcoming event of importance to anyone in the healthcare industry with an interest in helping to define the emerging GS1 global standards for product identification. Being billed as the inaugural Healthcare US Workgroup Forum, it is being held March 11-12 at the Hilton Lincoln Centre in Dallas, Texas.

Why attend? Ordinarily I would just refer you to the link so you can read the item yourself, but it is buried on a page made top-heavy by multiple RFID-focused bulletins. Therefore, here from the piece are a couple of the obvious incentives for this program:

According to GS1 US, participants will have the opportunity to shape the future of the U.S. health-care industry by helping define roadmaps for adoption and implementation and, ultimately, best practices for the industry. Attendees can take part in a variety of workgroups, including product identification, which will focus on developing implementation tools for the use and correct application of the Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) in the U.S. health-care system; location identification, which will focus on developing tools for the use and correct application of the Global Location Number (GLN); and Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN) implementation, which will focus on developing implementation tools that will drive the use of the GDSN. To register for the GS1 Healthcare US Workgroup Forum, visit GS1 US Healthcare or e-mail GS1HCUSEVENTS@gs1us.org.