UNSPSC: FAQs for Healthcare Providers

Hierarchy: Category Name (Code)

Segment: Medical Equipment, Accessories, and Supplies (42.00.00.00)

Family: Wound care products (42.21.00.00)

Class: Wound packing products (42.21.04.00)

Commodity: Packing strips for wound care (42.21.04.02)

The UNSPSC was released as an open standard in April 1999. As an open standard, use of the code is free of licensing fees. There is a very nominal fee to participate in the development of the code, only as is required to cover the administration costs of the non-profit code management organization.

Why is the UNSPSC important?

The UNSPSC initiative is important in providing free and open standards that can be used across many industries. It provides a standard set of guidelines and parameters. When utilized and managed properly, an organization can group like products. This can prove useful for analysis, for organizing and finding items, and for ordering products.

Who defines what the categories should be?

Since the UNSPSC was released as an open standard, all changes have been user-driven. Each Segment has a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) that votes on the adoption of all changes. TAG membership is open. Procedures are well documented and transparent.

How does UNSPSC relate to the UPN?

Whereas the UPN is designed to uniquely identify individual products at each level of packaging, the UNSPSC is designed to group similar products together into categories. Thus the UPN will have a one-to-many relationship with the UNSPSC; each category will contain many products while each product will reside in only one category.

Have other industries adopted a similar approach?

Yes, the UNSPSC has been adopted by the Information Technology, Electronic Components and Semiconductor Manufacturing industries. Other industries adopting this standard include retail, energy, automotive, and office supplies. The UNSPSC is supported by leading e-commerce platform vendors including Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, Ariba, Commerce One, and i2, as well as by electronic catalog services/software vendors such as CardoNet, Cohera, Poet, Requisite Technology, RightWorks, SAQQARA Systems, and Softface.

What is the Coalition for Healthcare E-Standards position on the UNSPSC?

The Coalition’s purpose is to aid in the support of the development of standards that are free and open and benefit the entire supply chain. As the UNSPSC meets this criteria, the Coalition core member organizations have agreed to adopt, maintain, and manage the UNSPSC within our own organizations, and encourage the utilization with our affiliated business partners, owners, members, and suppliers.

What are the current activities of the Coalition?

The Coalition helped to initiate the review and further development of Segment 42 “Medical Equipment and Accessories and Supplies”. A kick-off meeting was held in Chicago. Volunteers were asked to share their current taxonomies for use in this area. Four proprietary taxonomies were submitted, which were each compared to the existing standard. The Coalition then helped to recruit a diverse group of interested parties that was formed to review the results and to develop a new standard using the best features of these four. This group has been meeting and reviewing the codes weekly since mid-December. They expect that a standard taxonomy will be developed for Segment 42 soon. This group has also been reviewing Segment 41 “Laboratory and Measuring and Observing and Testing Equipment” to ensure that all clinical lab products are represented, also expected to be completed very soon. The proposed new standards will then be voted on by all members of TAGs 41 and 42. When the vote is approved, the new standards will be published and thereby be free and open for use by all members of the supply chain.