At the time of manufacture of medical items that are to be consumed during patient care, a unique identification number is assigned to each item and the number is encoded in an RFID tag attached to the item. The manufacturer registers the unique identification number for each individual medical item in a Unique Device Identification (UDI) Serialized Tracking Database. The UDI Serialized Tracking Database maps each unique identification number to each item's UDI number that has been assigned by the Food and Drug Administration. As each item is consumed during medical treatment and its cost is billed to payers, the unique identification number of the item is reported and verified. This provides for detection of certain types of fraud in the dispensing of medical items by validating that necessary supplies were actually used during patient care.