A Healthcare Industry Number (HIN) is a unique 9‑character alphanumeric code used to identify participants in the healthcare supply chain, such as hospitals, providers, suppliers, distributors, and Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs). It was created and is maintained by the Health Industry Business Communications Council (HIBCC) as a universal identifier for electronic communications and transactions across the health‑industry ecosystem.
What a HIN is used for
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Identifying facilities, locations, departments, and prescribers within the healthcare supply chain
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Enabling accurate billing, chargeback/rebate tracking, 340B‑program identification, and data‑matching between trading partners (e.g., manufacturers, distributors, providers)
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Reducing manual cross‑referencing and administrative error by giving each entity a standardized “address” in electronic systems
Source
Health Industry Number (HIN) Maintenance. SAP CRM for Industries. https://help.sap.com/docs/SAP_CUSTOMER_RELATIONSHIP_MANAGEMENT/7fefab7b11fa4cd88bdbd306952c2ff2/466f8ce0d56269dfe10000000a11466f.html?locale=en-US&version=7.0.0.27