Epic and AccuCheks - Barcode issues

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I am sure the answer is "yes", but does anyone use Epic and the Roche AccuChek glucometers at the same time? The amount of trouble I'm having with these glucometers not wanting to scan the Epic CSN barcodes makes me believe we're the first hospital to use both of them.

The meters do not want to pick up the barcode at all. It's like there's nothing in front of it whatsoever. Has anybody experienced this? If you have Epic and the AccuCheks, do you know what your barcodes look like? Could it be the printers (all of them??) or the label/armband paper? I am at a loss and very frustrated. My Epic support and IT are not much help.

7 Replies

Patricia Nuttall

Mon Oct 04, 2021 at 3:11PM

We have both. I know the symbology has to be one that the Accuhek meter can "read". Also if you have a middleware the settings need to be set correctly. Is it just not reading anything?

Rosemary Gray

Mon Oct 04, 2021 at 3:12PM

I use EPIC and AccuCheks together. I am using RALs for middleware. Do you send directly from the AccuCheks to EPIC? In RALs I had to program the 2D barcodes with an "**" in front of my 12 digit patient ID code. I also have older AccuCheks that use the old fashion 2D linear barcode and my newer AccuCheks use the newer QR code square code.

Andrea Spence

Mon Oct 04, 2021 at 3:14PM

We use the ABBOTT Freestyle Meter. However when we went live with EPIC I believe that the CSN barcode was encrypted with two alpha digits at the beginning. We had to truncate the first two digits in order to get the meter to scan the barcode.

Steven Lee

Mon Oct 04, 2021 at 3:15PM

We scan the barcode on the EPIC demographic label used on the patient armband when testing with the Inform II. If you scan the QRC, you may need to mask the first two characters. I believe "AC" precedes the CSN. Hope that helps.

Rachel Blevins

Mon Oct 04, 2021 at 3:18PM

It will scan sometimes, but it just doesn't want to "see" a barcode. It won't pickup that I'm waving a barcode in front of the scanner. So I'm not getting any error messages, it just doesn't think the barcode is a barcode lol. Yes, we have check digits in place, but it is also allowing the number without the check digits, so I don't know what the deal is. We use the Roche IT1000 as our middleware.

Pamela Bauer, BS (ASCP) CPP

Mon Oct 04, 2021 at 3:41PM

epic usually uses Code 128 and Code 39 for 1D Barcodes. Aztec and DataMatrix for 2D Barcodes. Significant error decrease for barcode reading. I just asked my IT dept. what barcodes does epic read and programmed by glucometers for that barcode symbiology. I have Inform meter to SunQuest to Rals to epic. For your 1-D Patient ID barcode Mask, you'll have to drop the first 2 digits which are usually letters (AC) followed by $ for the numbers. Our csn length is 8 digits. **$$$$$$$$. I don't need a Barcode Mask for the 2-D Barcode.

Linda Lahey

Mon Oct 04, 2021 at 4:40PM

Your post brought back similar pangs of frustration I had two years ago. We have Accucheks, Telcor QML and EPIC. Do check that the labels do not have any shine on them and that the barcode lines are clearly delineated.
my IT department had to prepare a Special label for patient's armband specifically because of the Accuchek reading ability (or inability) to read our 14 digit CSN. IT physically condensed the bar code (because EPIC bar codes are too long) and our Armband label is 14 digits and starts with "AC" so its AC12345678901234.Good luck.

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Epic and AccuCheks - Barcode issues