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Products
new & Services
technology
Freight/shipping services migrate
too close to home
The impact of intra-facility courier, messenger services on healthcare organizations
by Rick Dana Barlow
O ne of the more popular business
extensions emerging from the food
service, grocery and retail markets
within the last few years is an old school
relic from the milkman days: Personal
and shipping options with
actionable data,” Denbigh
said. “Modifying behavior
without it is difficult. Being
able to visualize your data
competency and agility around building and
optimizing the processes, logistics as well as
technologies.”
For an organization to manage internal
courier and shipping costs it needs to explore
delivery services. in a meaningful way often spending in this area because auditing in-
Whether businesses handle it themselves changes costly behavior voices and evaluating spending history can
with their own staff, contract with an internet- without conflict or external Bill Denbigh often uncover inefficiencies in deliveries and
based third party firm sporting a catchy name influence.” overspending, asserts Melissa Laber, General
or some “crowdsourcing” service that subcon- Denbigh argues that Supply Chain inter- Manager, OptiFreight Logistics, a Cardinal
tracts to “ordinary citizens” — including your nally should “own the movement of goods” Health, Inc. company.
neighbors, let’s face it: Convenient delivery is throughout the hospital and health system. The organization also needs to optimize
the new black! “The key to this is for internal supply chain the types of deliveries on
Yet in the healthcare industry, satisfying to offer a service that provides the same level schedule. “Carefully evalu-
such a demand may, in fact, enable and of security, visibility and dependability that ating targeted delivery date
reward questionable behavior, such as poor third-party services offer,” he indicated. But against the type of delivery
planning and organization. that’s not the end game. service selected can lead to
Over the years, Healthcare Purchasing News “Once a hospital is operating this sort of cost savings without com-
has examined the high costs of freight and internal service, they can double down and promising reliability,” Laber
shipping, by and large, going to and coming gain huge cost advantage by consolidating said. “Often, shipments are Melissa Laber
from somewhere off-campus. Healthcare courier services (i.e., having one courier pro- sent same day when a next-day delivery
organizations generate even more expenses vide a wide range of services in a single visit would be enough and more cost effective.”
when they need something overnight. rather than many separate services). This is Third-party service companies can offer
However, in recent years, sources have true over the road for a network of clinics and “a centralized view of same-day deliveries
relayed to HPN an even more curious and hospitals as much as within a single hospital,” through systems, support and expertise that
high-cost development in the freight/ship- Denbigh noted. “One courier dropping off many healthcare networks lack internally,”
ping arena that concentrates on “the last mail, pharmacy, med/surg, etc. and picking she added.
mile.” Occasionally, the “last mile” involves up specimens, expired goods, etc., all in a Because couriers represent a service that is
staffers on one floor of a hospital actually call- single visit means that the courier can visit “frequently on demand and subjected to the
ing an external, third-party courier service to many times a day offering higher levels of unpredictability of humans and the environ-
ship something to another floor of the same service while still being less expensive than ment, there will always be an opportunity for
building! each service managed by a discrete courier.” improvement,” said Dan McEvoy, Courier
Seriously. Mayo Clinic tapped into its framework to Director, TRIOSE. But the organization must
In previous coverage, HPN has shared establish something such a model, according zero in on the cost impact
recommendations, suggestions, tips and to David Marcelletti, Vice Chair, Supply Chain and speed to savings with
tricks from freight/shipping professionals on Management. an internal focus.
how hospitals and other healthcare facilities “Our strategy was to build a high quality McEvoy suggests several
can save thousands of dollars by improving intra- and inter-company questions to ask:
inbound and outbound shipping practices. logistics network that would • Are the users of the service
But what about internal, intra-facility courier transform our transportation responsibly choosing the
and messenger practices? operations into a strategic most efficient and eco- Dan McEvoy
asset, providing meaningful, nomical level of courier service?
Focus on data long-term returns across the • When an item needs to be moved, the re-
To control and manage those practices, Sup- enterprise,” he told HPN. quester must choose the type of delivery. Is
ply Chain needs to own two things: The data “For our organization, cen- David this a routine delivery? Or is this an unan-
and the service itself, whether handled by the tralization and optimization Marcelletti ticipated on-demand situation?
department or by some third-party service, of courier/shipping services is a key strat- “On-demand deliveries are the most chal-
according to Bill Denbigh, Director, Business egy for enabling value through managing lenging to fulfill and command the highest
Development and Marketing, TECSYS. schedules, creating efficiencies and expense rates,” McEvoy said. “When a task needs to
“A core strategy in controlling costs is in- management. Third-party services can and be completed immediately, a resource must
creasing the visibility to both shipping costs do play a role in this space because of their be pulled to attend to this new request. The
50 August 2019 • HEALTHCARE Purchasing NEWS • hpnonline.com Page 52
Products & Services
urgency to service an immediate request change health system behaviors through “The best way to control internal same-day
will also have an impact on the quality of the visibility, accountability and process from transportation — or courier — and shipping
routine tasks that are now awaiting attention. a strategic level,” he noted. “Innovations costs is to think about it holistically and
Overuse of on-demand deliveries is the most can be done through data and analytics. It more strategically and look
costly and disruptive way to utilize courier also takes processes and education to help at ways to leverage that
services. Therefore, if we consider the most stakeholders to understand the true impact network to generate returns
controllable and expedient path to savings, of their choices.” in areas beyond direct trans-
we must look internally.” Supply Chain must concentrate on the big portation,” she said. “This
McEvoy contends that third-party lo- picture, emphasizes Bonni Kaplan DeWoskin, starts with an analysis of all
gistics services can play a very important Vice President, Marketing and Strategic Part- activity to identify all of the
role in optimizing couriers. “They can help nerships, MedSpeed. movements in the system Bonni Kaplan
and lay the foundation for DeWoskin
creating a plan for centralization and con-
solidation. It then involves measurement and
governance to review data and discuss strate-
MADE gies to curb overspending and verify that the
service continues to meet the health system’s
IN USA needs and ongoing optimization to ensure that
the network is rebalanced over time.”
Whether a healthcare organization or labora-
tory should manage this directly or outsource
to a third party depends on the organization.
“In most cases, I believe that it makes smart
business sense to outsource to a culturally and
strategically aligned, reliable and experienced
partner to manage this,” Kaplan DeWoskin
indicated. “While I admit that we clearly have
skin in this game, the right partner will have
the expertise and focus needed to develop,
manage and continuously improve/optimize
operations — not to mention, the capital to
make the right investments into the people,
■ Over 35 Years of Servicing all process and technology needed to operate
areas of Healthcare most efficiently and effectively.”
■ Partnering for cost savings
■ Leading Supplier of Patient Care
Supply Chain rules
Essential Products Educating staffers about internal courier
and shipping policies and procedures, by
■ Continual flow of innovative solutions
and large, should reside with Supply Chain,
■ Dedicated field-based sources stress.
Sales & Customer Service Team “Supply Chain is best suited to manage the
CS 800.511.6298 whole transportation plan in a single, cohe-
CService@medegenmed.com sive and holistic form,” Denbigh indicated.
“Transportation professionals are the best
suited to present the facts around cost and
service levels.”
Macelletti agrees. “For Mayo Clinic, educa-
tion and training is owned by Supply Chain,”
he noted. “Our freight team has subject matter
experts for processes, systems, and how they
are leveraged for efficiency. This has worked
well to not only educate, but has also elimi-
nated variation and waste.”
While employees would be trained inter-
nally by a centralized department in an ideal
scenario, according to Laber, that frequently
isn’t the case.
“In reality, most healthcare systems lack
the time, expertise and resources necessary
to manage courier services, not to mention
provide training on it,” she continued. “For-
tunately, there are third-party providers well
equipped to provide training and on-going
Visit www.ksrleads.com/?908hp-011 support. It’s important to identify the pro-
Page 54
52 August 2019 • HEALTHCARE Purchasing NEWS • hpnonline.com
PRoduCTs & sERviCEs
vider that best aligns with your organizational shipping expenses is a lack of data and, by and visibility which healthcare organizations,
needs considering factors including industry extension, a lack of understanding of those and their couriers, often lack.”
expertise, comprehensive solutions and reli- costs,” TECSYS’ Denbigh said. “Unfortunate- Data remain the target, McEvoy insists. “The
able support.” ly, without effective technology gathering data absence of data to help identify the real trends
Still, much depends on the make-up of the along the way, capturing and communicating and opportunities makes possible strategies
courier and logistics operation, DeWoskin courier costs to internal customers is very dif- very subjective. The quality of the data they do
notes. “If a health system has a partner who is ficult. Without this kind of information, those have is often unsatisfactory because of insuf-
financially and strategically aligned perform- internal customers are unlikely to change ficient scanning or low driver engagement of
ing this service, then that partner is certainly their habits.” the technology. As the management thinker
a principal participant in educating staffers Consolidating healthcare systems may over- Peter Drucker said, ‘If you can’t measure
about best practices,” she said. “Working look and leave delivery services decentralized, it, you can’t manage it.’ If we consider the
with the leadership in every department and Cardinal OptiFreight’s Laber observes, so that popularity of Six Sigma methodologies where
leveraging tools, such as technology that auto- organizations are misguided to believe they we use DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze,
matically suggests lower-cost service options, must choose between reliability and efficiency. Improve, Control) for improvement, the lack
can be a very effective strategy.” “Within a healthcare network, you might of data will undermine the ability to measure.
Who should be educating staffers may be find that different locations, departments, and Therefore, control becomes problematic,” he
a valid question, according to McEvoy, but clinical services each have their own unique added.
it may not be the right one — at least at first. needs that courier systems are designed to MedSpeed’s Kaplan DeWoskin attributes
“We would need to first determine which meet,” she continued. “This creates a com- the issue to priorities in a dynamic environ-
staffers are in need of education,” he said. plex, fragmented network of courier activity. ment where healthcare leaders must concen-
“My experience has often shown that ac- However, utilizing a courier management trate on specific things even though many can
countability, or lack of, and anonymity is service can provide a centralized view of garner attention at once so some opportunities
a driving factor in behavior. If the costs of transportation activity, so healthcare networks understandably fly under the radar.
using courier services is not impacting an can reduce costs through optimization and “Because of this, many healthcare orga-
individual or department, users might not achieve greater efficiencies.” nizations’ transportation operations have
understand or even consider how their Decentralization is typically the foundation, become fragmented over time,” she noted.
request will impact the process. In order to admits Mayo Clinic’s Marcelletti. “Many “If a hospital has an internal courier/logistics
address this, it is important to be able to ac- organizations have a disjointed model where operation for the lab, a third-party for phar-
cess and utilize data. Once the information processes and systems are divided among macy delivery and a different third-party for
is gathered, it can be used to do root cause Supply Chain, Administration, Facilities, supply chain, it’s easy to see how the waste
analysis. Data can identify the people or the Pharmacy, Lab, Mailroom, etc.,” he added. “In and overlap would go unnoticed. The differ-
departments that may be over-utilizing the an integrated network, if those groups do not ent courier operations could pass each other
more expensive and disruptive services. utilize a logistics network as a shared service in the hall or on the street with no one really
Once the sources of unnecessary costs have or enterprise organization, the fragmentation paying attention.
been identified, the proper education proto- is exponential.” “Additionally, if there is no central manage-
col can be established.” Healthcare organizations need to recognize ment of this function, it’s difficult to monitor
that both external and internal courier services behavior,” Kaplan DeWoskin continued.
Mountain vs. molehill are generally tactical and focus on performing “Team members at clinics might order the
Initially, healthcare organizations may not rec- the task that is requested of them, according fastest service type because that is what they
ognize they have a courier/shipping problem to TRIOSE’s McEvoy. “[Because] healthcare have always done, not because it is the best
and if they finally do they may not know or moves ‘in the now’ with a strong sense of ur- choice for the situation. HPn
even understand what to do about it. Much gency, it is generally not the practice of a cou-
depends on perceptions and perspectives. rier to question the service level or urgency of Visit www.hpnonline.com/21087980 for the
“The two main factors that healthcare a request. Creating strategies for improvement additional sidebar: “Crowdsourcing couriers in
organizations face when it comes to courier/ and cost control require resources, technology healthcare: Crux or crock?”
vEndoR sPoTLigHTs AhRMM 2019
July 28-31 • San Diego, CA
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