Speed, security and reliability are non-negotiables when medical manufacturers and healthcare providers are shipping. They’re often delivering life-saving medications, critical time- and temperature-sensitive specimens, or medical supplies that are essential to procedures. The stakes are high — sometimes even life and death.
But many medical manufacturers and healthcare providers are still relying on outdated manual delivery processes that lead to delays, lost shipments and higher-than-necessary costs. These outdated processes create risks that healthcare networks simply can’t afford.
The solution: modern medical delivery software.
Today, medical delivery tracking software blends AI-powered route optimization, real-time tracking and automated exception management in a way that transforms healthcare logistics. The very best providers of medical delivery software also include a human element — people who can intervene and support when challenges arise (like when it’s hard to find the exact delivery point within a large hospital).
Read on to learn how healthcare manufacturers and providers are ensuring secure, compliant and cost-effective deliveries with the help of medical courier software like OneRail — all without adding logistical complexity to their operations.
The Growing Need for Medical Delivery Software
As of 2023, Amazon held almost 40% of the ecommerce market share in the United States — a number expected to grow in the coming decade. Amazon’s ambitious, customer-focused delivery program, including same-day service and free 30-day returns, has conditioned Americans to expect fast, affordable (or even free) delivery.
This so-called “Amazon Effect” now extends even to industries like healthcare and medical supply chains, where deliveries must be handled with extreme care due to many of the factors mentioned above: multiple delivery points, time-sensitive medications, temperature-sensitive specimens and more. Many healthcare networks struggle with logistics challenges, including:
- Limited visibility into delivery costs, making it difficult to optimize expenses.
- Over-reliance on expensive courier services when more affordable shipping options may be viable.
- An inability to group or route deliveries efficiently, leading to unnecessary costs.
- A lack of real-time access to shipment data, forcing reactive rather than proactive decision-making.
- Challenges in managing time-sensitive medications that, if delayed, may result in costly losses beyond insured replacement prices.
Traditional delivery methods only exacerbate these challenges with manual tracking, inefficient routing and compliance risks. The combination of customer expectations and industry-specific challenges leaves shippers with only one choice — to lean on automation and technology-driven logistics to improve speed while reducing costs.
Modern medical courier tracking software and specimen tracking software can be part of the solution. But remember that software alone can’t do the job. Medical and healthcare shipments are difficult to the extent that a human element (on-demand support and intervention) is essential to successful deliveries.
How Medical Delivery Software Cuts Costs for Healthcare Networks
Inefficiencies in logistics don’t just slow things down — they also drive up costs. Manual processes, unexpected delays and disorganized courier selection can lead to wasted time, lost revenue, increased operational strain and (ultimately) dissatisfied customers. Medical delivery software reduces costs and enables faster, more reliable deliveries. Here’s how:
- Optimized Mode Selection: Avoid overpaying for courier services when more cost-effective parcel options can be used instead. Smart medical delivery software dynamically selects the best mode based on urgency and cost-efficiency.
- Reduced Manual Labor: Pharmacists, lab techs and hospital staff shouldn’t have to spend valuable time tracking deliveries and coordinating couriers. By automating dispatch, routing and tracking tasks, healthcare professionals can focus on serving patients.
- Minimized Delays and Reshipments: Exception management tools proactively detect potential disruptions and create alternative plans in real-time, ensuring critical medications and supplies arrive on time.
- Enhanced Operational Efficiency: On-time and trackable shipments mean medical manufacturers and healthcare providers spend less time answering the question, “Where’s my order?”
- Support for Bulk Medical Supply Deliveries: Hospitals and healthcare networks often require large-volume deliveries to multiple locations. Medical delivery software should include advanced routing and location tracking that enables efficient bulk deliveries.
The healthcare industry is vast, with a range of customers adding unique delivery requirements to their shipments. For example:
- Ecommerce pharmacies that fulfill prescriptions for senior-living facilities and hospitals need to optimize between parcel and courier shipments to avoid excessive costs.
- Hospital networks with multiple locations require real-time tracking and automated route optimization to keep critical medical supplies stocked across facilities.
- Medical equipment providers need logistics solutions that support high-value shipments like beds, ventilators and other essential hardware.
Without the right technology, these organizations remain reactive rather than proactive, leading to inefficient cost management and operational strain. Relying on fragmented point solutions only adds to the complexity, whereas a comprehensive last-mile delivery platform provides a more holistic, scalable approach. Learn more about the difference between point solutions and platform solutions.
The Future of Medical Delivery Software
Medical manufacturers and healthcare providers have options when evaluating medical delivery tracking software. The best options include:
- Artificial intelligence and machine learning for predictive logistics.
- Integration with IoT and smart sensors to ensure shipment integrity.
- Automation that creates greater efficiency and cost savings.
- An integrated ecosystem that gives users a “single pane of glass” view into delivery operations.
And let’s not forget the human element. The “last mile” is the last stage of delivery, where shipments move from warehouses and distribution centers to customers at individual addresses, but healthcare and medical delivery is notorious for its “last foot” — finding a shipment’s recipient inside a large hospital or medical complex, where there are dozens of delivery points.
This is where the human element becomes invaluable. When humans are available to help with exception management, they can support couriers and delivery drivers through real-time information and communication with a shipment’s recipient. In an industry where shipments are so often time- and temperature-sensitive, the human element contributing to effective exception management is critical.
OneRail: Medical Delivery Software for Today’s Challenges
Everyone in the medical and healthcare industry should be able to focus on their core responsibility — doing what’s best for patients. But that focus too often gets bogged down with logistical nuances and challenges.
The right medical delivery software changes all that.
By combining automation, real-time visibility, AI-powered route optimization and a human element in exception management, the right software can empower fast, compliant, cost-effective deliveries that respond to the urgency created by life-and-death situations.
At OneRail, our OmniPoint® Platform offers everything medical manufacturers and healthcare providers need for success in today’s shipping landscape. The Platform includes automation, visibility and route optimization tools — plus the human element to ensure success in medical and healthcare deliveries.
Beyond these capabilities, OneRail’s Platform also automates mode selection in real-time, choosing between parcel and courier in milliseconds based on urgency, cost, and customer-defined criteria. This ensures the most efficient and cost-effective deliveries every time.
Step into the future of medical delivery software with OneRail. Schedule a demo to see our platform’s capabilities for medical manufacturers and healthcare providers.
