The National Healthcare Security Administration and four other departments recently issued a notice on strengthening the collection and application of drug traceability codes in the fields of medical security and work-related injury insurance, requiring active promotion of the traceability of the production, circulation, and use process of all types of drugs, as well as the full process, quantity, and scenario application of drug traceability codes in the fields of medical security and work-related injury insurance, and gradually achieving full coverage of drug traceability code collection and application in all pharmaceutical institutions. The notice specifies that from July 1st, the sales process must scan the code as required before settling the medical insurance fund. From January 1st, 2026, all pharmaceutical institutions must achieve full collection and upload of drug traceability codes. The drug traceability code is the "electronic ID card" of each box of drugs, which has uniqueness. The traceability code for a box of drugs should only have a record of being scanned and sold once. If it appears multiple times, there is a possibility of counterfeit drugs, returned drugs, or drugs being sold in exchange. What's the use of scanning codes? According to experts, "when selling drugs, it is necessary to scan the code", and the medical insurance department "settles according to the code". If the code is not scanned or repeated scanning occurs, the medical insurance fund will refuse to pay and hold relevant responsibilities accountable, in order to improve the efficiency of drug supervision; By scanning the QR code, detailed drug sales information can be obtained, which not only makes people feel more at ease when purchasing drugs, but also promotes their participation in drug safety management, maintains drug safety, and safeguards the safety of medical insurance funds. According to the notice, designated medical institutions for medical insurance must accurately collect and verify drug traceability codes and upload them to the national unified medical insurance information platform and the drug traceability system of drug marketing authorization holders. Retail pharmacies should display drug traceability code information on customer purchase receipts. Work injury insurance medical service agreement institutions and work injury rehabilitation agreement institutions should accelerate the collection and application of drug traceability codes. Notice specifies 5 key areas of work: strengthening coding to ensure accuracy and standardization; Strengthen data collection to ensure that all necessary scans are completed; Strengthen application and ensure code management; Strengthen services to ensure safety and convenience; Strengthen management to ensure precision and efficiency. In terms of strengthening application, the notice clearly states that the application of drug traceability codes will be enhanced in the negotiation of medical insurance catalogs, the formulation of commercial insurance catalogs, the listing of provincial pharmaceutical centralized procurement platforms, and centralized volume based procurement. The National Medical Insurance Administration will rely on the national unified medical insurance information platform to establish drug traceability information collection and query functions, establish a three code relationship mapping library for drug traceability codes, product codes, and medical insurance drug codes, a packaging cascade mapping library for drug sales packaging units at all levels, a traceability code rule library for various traceability codes, and provide public services to the society. For example, providing drug traceability information query channels for insured individuals to quickly access information on drug production, retail, and use. (New Society)