>>that could have been done with targeted legislation

woulda, coulda, shoulda.

That's exactly the point. All of this could have been done voluntarily or with targeted legislation decades ago, but it wasn't.


I did a lot of work on pharma systems about 10 years ago. That sector did a pretty good job - far from perfect but infinitely better than the MD's and hospitals- with the FDA with establishing bar code standards, EDI standards, deployment history, etc.
No legislation was necessary. If you want to sell in that market, you have to meet the standards, period.
A lot of that came from the manufacturers, who had a lot to gain from improved trace ability for recalls, etc,

I was thinking about the pharma systems I worked on while watching the nurses scan my wristband and then the meds they were giving me. Every med, even in some cases a single capsule, is bar coded now.