Health Industry Barcodes Labeler Identification Code

Health Industry Barcodes (HIBC) are a barcode standard developed and deployed by the Health Industry Business Communications Council (HIBCC) for better inventory management and stock quality control within the health industry.

Only Labeler Identification Code (LIC) barcodes are explained, not Provider Applications Standard (PAS).

Each HIBC barcode is encased with an asterisk '*' and starts with a plus '+' symbol to indicate that it is of HIBC standard. Each HIBC barcode contains Primary and Secondary data structures. At the end of each barcode, before the final asterisk there is a calculated check digit.

There are 2 methods of processing product information:

  • Concatenated HIBC barcode - a singular barcode with a primary structure with zero or many (1+) secondary structures concatenated to the primary using the '/' delimiter. Often 2D barcodes are used for this.

  • Linked HIBC barcode - multiple barcodes with each individually containing a data structure. A primary structure barcode which contains the product GTIN and zero or many (1+) secondary structure barcodes which have a link character before the check digit which matches the check digit in the primary structure barcode.

Primary structures contain the following data points:

  • a 4 character LIC

  • a 1 to 19 character product GTIN (also referenced as a product or catalogue number)

  • a single digit unit of measure (UOM)

Example

The barcode +A12398760 decodes to:

A123 the LIC

9876 the product GTIN

0 the UOM

For the purpose of .wms, this barcode is recorded as the product GTIN A12398760 where 0 denotes the trade unit and the LIC is included. If we received other barcodes such as A12398761 or A12398765, .wms deems them as the same product but as different trade units, where the last digit determines the trade unit in ascending order.

  • A12398760 - UNIT

  • A12398761 - INNER

  • A12398765 - OUTER

Secondary structures are optional and contain additional information about a given product using data identifiers.

Secondary structure data identifiers:

  • $ batch number

  • $+ serial number

  • $$x where x is a number between 0 and 7 with the following designations:

    0, 1 - exact value in MMYY. For example, $$0124 equates to January 2024.

    2 - MMDDYY format follows. For example, $$2103024 equates to 30 October 2024.

    3 - YYMMDD format follows. For example, 3241030 equates to 30 October 2024.

    4 - YYMMDDHH format follows, where H is the GMT hour.

    5 - YYJJJ format follows, where J is the Julian date in days. For example, 24156 equates to 5 June 2024.

    6 - YYJJJHH Julian format date follows.

    7 - No date encoded.

    Each digit after the date format refers to the batch number. These dates are expiry dates.

    Example

    $$52001510X3 decodes to

    $$5 - data identifier

    20015 - January 15 2020 as a Julian expiry data

    10X3 - batch number

  • $$+x the same as above, however, the number after the date format is the serial number.

  • S - serial number

  • 16D - production date (YYYYMMDD)

  • 14D - expiry date (YYYYMMDD)

  • Q - quantity

Example

*+A99912345/$10X3/16D20111231/14D202001313*

This example has 3 secondary data structures additional to the primary structure, these would be seen as:

Primary structure +A99912345

Product A9991234, trade unit OUTER

Secondary structure $10X3

$ - Data Identifier

10X3 - Batch number

Secondary structure 16D20111231

16D - Data Identifier

20111231 - Production Date (31/12/2011)

Secondary structure 14D202001313

14D - Data Identifier

20200131 - Expiry Date (31/01/2020)

3 - Check Digit as it is the last data structure

Link characters are used when primary and secondary data structures are encoded in different barcodes. The link in the secondary data structure must match the check digit in the first data structure.

Example

2 barcodes

Primary barcode : *+A123BJC5D6E71G*

Secondary barcode : *+$$52001510X3GD*

This example has a primary data structure and a secondary data structure in 2 separate barcodes.

From the primary barcode, the following information retrieved is:

  • Product GTIN A123BJC5D6E71

  • Check digit 'G'

This is stored in the GTIN and the check digit for further scanning.

When the secondary barcode is scanned, the following information is retrieved:

  • Julian Expiry date - 20015 (15th January 2020)

  • Batch Number - 10X3

  • Link Character - G

  • Check Digit - D

When both barcodes are scanned, we know the product GTIN, the expiry date and the batch number.