Supply chain management has been proven to be one of the largest expenses for healthcare providers. In a study done by Guidehouse, it is estimated that hospitals are spending $25 billion more on supply chain than necessary. According to the study, hospitals can safely reduce supply chain expenses by an average of $11 million annually per hospital. This equates on average to hiring 165 registered nurses or 50 primary care physicians.
While many challenges are facing healthcare supply chains, 3 of the largest concerns can be honed into improvement with final mile delivery solutions.
Supply Shortages
Quality is key for healthcare providers. This makes it imperative to have the necessary supplies to provide the best care. A Cardinal Health survey revealed that 69% of healthcare professionals stated having to delay treatment due to lack of supplies. On-demand, final mile delivery is vital to negate supply shortages.
Lack of Automation
Manual processes take more time, increase labor costs, and allow for human error to occur more frequently. Final mile can easily be automated to avoid manual operations.
High Costs
Expenses incur across all phases of supply chain. Some examples include special delivery and expedited service fees. There are also significant expenses related to liability of internal fleets. With traditional delivery services, internal fleets and a lack of consistency in final mile, costs add up and fast.
As healthcare providers look to lower the massive supply chain spend, they must implement a cost-effective solution to final mile.
The solution: Medical Couriers.
Shifting delivery to medical courier services allows logistic management to do more with less. Medical couriers deliver medical reports, lab samples, surgical instruments, and more to and from offices, labs, hospitals and patient’s homes. With the fast pace and continuously changing environment, having reliable, cost-efficient support is vital.
What’s A Medical Courier?
Medical couriers are experienced and trained to transport medical supplies. Through transportation, they are aware of any precautionary measures from fragile to temperature-safe items. These items are delivered with fewer touchpoints as the person picking up the item is delivering it. Less touchpoints means less of a chance for delays along with damages. Prerequisites such as insurance and background checks are often installed by medical courier companies to ensure the medical items are safely handled. John Lauth, President and CEO of Courier Connection explained, “Medical couriers are experts in transportation just like healthcare organizations are the experts in the medical field! We have greater efficiency, full management infrastructure already in place, and reduce your liability. Bringing on medical couriers allows healthcare professionals to focus on what is really important, patient care.”
Medical couriers may be more liable and optimize your delivery and transportation, but how do they save costs? Outsourcing courier services allows for companies to trade the cost of in-house employment and vehicle maintenance for the convenience of a use-when-needed service. On top of that, they are able to avoid added fees associated with traditional delivery companies and the cost of potential liability. Lauth shared that they saved one Atlanta based hospital half a million dollars in just one year of partnership. “We offer competitive rates with better on demand service. With our independent contractor model, we are able to appropriately scale workforce for the demand while managing liability.”
Medical Couriers Delivery Service
At OneRail, we recognized these challenges to offer a comprehensive solution. Our extensive courier network provides the capacity necessary to deliver time-sensitive products with the highest of service levels and security. The OneRail Platform enables providers to reduce fulfillment costs and increase capabilities by unifying their delivery orchestration into one platform. Experience a seamless integration allowing for delivery automation, smart rate shopping for the best price based on the job requirements, an aggregated delivery network of over 4.5M drivers and real-time, live, USA based exception management.
Healthcare institutions can experience great benefits by outsourcing to medical courier services through improved efficiency, reduction of costs, and increased quality control and assurance. When medical professionals are provided the tools for successful patient care, it leads to a higher rate of positive outcomes.
